Employer of Record Singapore

Employees are entitled to paid outpatient sick leave and paid hospitalisation leave if:

• They are covered under the Employment Act.
• They have served their employer for at least three months.
• They have informed or tried to inform their employer within 48 hours of their absence.

The number of days of paid sick leave employees are entitled to depends on their length of service but can be up to 14 days for paid outpatient sick leave and 60 days for paid hospitalisation leave. The 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave includes the 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave entitlement.

Employers must provide paid sick leave to their employees if they are issued with a medicate certificate by any registered doctor or dentist indicating that they are unfit for work. Employees must have worked for at least three months to be entitled to paid outpatient sick leave or paid hospitalisation leave.

Between three and six months of service, entitlement is pro-rated as follows:

Central Provident Fund (CPF)

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a key pillar of Singapore’s social security system. It was created under the Central Provident Fund Act and was originally enacted in 1955. The CPF administers the comprehensive social security savings plan that provides different types of benefits. These benefits include retirement, healthcare and family protection amongst other things.

Employers and employees make monthly contributions to the CPF which go into three different accounts:

• The ‘ordinary account’ which can be used to buy a home, pay for CPF insurance, investment and education.
• A ‘special account’ for old age and investment in retirement-related financial products.
• A ‘MediSave account’ which can be used for hospitalisation expenses and approved medical insurance.

For employees that are Singapore citizens or permanent residents, the employer is also required to make contributions to the CPF fund.

Monthly contributions are made by both the employee and employer. The employer is responsible for sending the monthly payment (which includes both the employer’s and the employee’s respective contributions) by the 14^th of the following month. The employee’s portion is then deducted from their salary.

The maximum CPF contribution rate for employers and employees is 17% and 20% respectively; however, this can be lower depending on certain factors such as the employee’s age, permanent resident status etc.

There’s no CPF contribution for foreign employees holding an employment pass or work permit in Singapore (if a foreign worker levy is paid). Clients wishing to hire resident employees will need to make CPF contributions for them which will help employees meet their retirement, housing and healthcare needs.

Skills Development Levy (SDL)

SDL is a compulsory levy that employers have to pay for employees working in Singapore, on top of CPF contributions and a foreign worker levy (if applicable). The CPF Board collects SDL on behalf of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

The funds collected from SDL are channelled into the Skills Development Fund (SDF), which is used to support workforce upgrading programmes and to provide training grants when sending employees for training under the national Continuing Education and Training (CET) scheme.

Both the SDL and SDF are administrated by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).