Companies punished for posting discriminatory job advertisements

In Singapore, fifteen more companies have been targeted for posting discriminatory job advertisements.

This comes after action earlier taken against 10 other companies in September this year.

The companies now have to put up online public apologies for 30 days, and are barred from hiring new foreign workers during this 30-day period, as well as for six months following the publication of their apologies.

In announcing the actions taken against the companies, the Ministry of Manpower says employers who advertise a position requiring a specific attribute which may be viewed as discriminatory should ensure that the attribute is indeed a requirement of the job, and state the reason for the requirement in the advertisement.

This is under the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices issued by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP).

The 15 companies could not provide valid justifications for listing discriminatory attributes such as "age from 30 to 45 years", "prefer Chinese race", and "strictly Singaporean and PR Only, Caucasians are welcome".

30^th November 2013