Startup allegedly lied about considering local job applicants fairly

A Singapore-based start-up was yesterday taken to court for allegedly stating falsely that it had fairly considered local job applicants before applying for work passes for two foreign employees.

SensorFlow, which provides hotels with wireless Internet of Things solutions to help optimise energy consumption, faces two charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

The firm is accused of lying in two Employment Pass applications submitted online to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Dec 5 and Dec 13 last year for an engineering director and a price manager respectively.

The firm allegedly said it had interviewed five applicants for the engineering director post, two of whom were Singapore citizens, and had considered the local candidates fairly - but knew this to be false.

It also allegedly lied that it fairly considered two Singapore citizens it said it interviewed for the pricing manager job.

The case has been adjourned to Oct 13. If convicted, the company can be fined up to $20,000 for each charge.

In January, MOM stiffened administrative penalties under the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) for employers who do not hire fairly by revoking work pass privileges for a longer duration of up to two years.

In March, a logistics company was fined $18,000 under the new penalty framework.

It had pre-selected a foreigner for a job and did not review or consider any of the 22 Singapore candidates who had applied for it through the MyCareersFuture portal.

Under the FCF, companies must advertise a position on the portal for at least 14 days before it can apply for an Employment Pass. From next month, this will be doubled to at least 28 days. - KOK YUFENG