Singapore passed the Workplace Fairness Act 2025 (WFA) in January 2025 — its first codified statutory anti-discrimination employment law. The Act is expected to commence by end-2027 for employers with 25 or more employees, giving businesses roughly 18 months from today to prepare. That timeline sounds comfortable, but the preparation required is substantive: updating hiring processes, documenting recruitment decisions, establishing a written grievance procedure, and training managers. Businesses that leave it until Q4 2027 will face a last-minute scramble.

A number of corporate services competitors published WFA guides this week, most of them pitched at large multinationals. This guide is written for Singapore SME employers and growing businesses — the organisations with 25 to a few hundred employees who will be covered from commencement but who do not have dedicated legal and compliance teams to manage the transition.

What the Workplace Fairness Act 2025 Is

The WFA consolidates and codifies anti-discrimination obligations that previously existed only in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) framework. The Act creates enforceable rights for employees who face adverse employment decisions based on protected characteristics, backed by a dedicated dispute resolution mechanism.

Before the WFA, Singapore’s anti-discrimination framework rested on the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) and the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF). These were influential but not legally binding in the same way. The WFA changes that: violations will attract civil penalties and, for employers who victimise employees who raise complaints, potentially criminal sanctions.

Which Employers Are Covered and When

The WFA uses an employee-count threshold to phase in compliance obligations:

  • Employers with 25 or more employees: commencement expected by end-2027
  • Employers with 5 to 24 employees: commencement expected in 2030
  • Employers with fewer than 5 employees: exempted from most WFA obligations, but still bound by the TGFEP

Important: the employee-count threshold covers the total workforce — it is not limited to Singapore-based staff. Employers should count all employees, including those on work passes, when determining which threshold applies to their organisation.

Even if your business currently has fewer than 25 employees but is growing, it is worth understanding the WFA framework now. Hiring decisions, interview processes, and grievance procedures are easier to build correctly from the start than to retrofit later.

The 11 Protected Characteristics Under the Workplace Fairness Act

The WFA prohibits adverse employment decisions based on any of 11 protected characteristics:

  1. Age
  2. Nationality
  3. Sex
  4. Marital status
  5. Pregnancy
  6. Caregiving responsibilities
  7. Race
  8. Religion
  9. Language ability
  10. Disability
  11. Mental health condition

An “adverse employment decision” covers the full lifecycle of the employment relationship: hiring, performance review, promotion, training, and dismissal. It also covers terms and conditions of employment — for example, a policy that restricts certain benefits to employees of a particular marital status would fall within scope.

The Act permits exceptions where a protected characteristic is a genuine occupational requirement. For example, a religious organisation may legitimately require that its pastoral staff share its faith. However, these exceptions are narrow and fact-specific.

The Mandatory Written Grievance Procedure (Section 27)

One of the most operationally significant WFA requirements is the mandatory written grievance procedure under Section 27. Every covered employer must establish and maintain a written process under which:

  • Employees can raise complaints about discrimination or unfair treatment based on a protected characteristic
  • The employer commits to inquiring into and reviewing each grievance raised
  • The employee is informed in writing of the outcome of the grievance process
  • Written records of each inquiry and review are maintained for a specified period
  • Grievance-related information, including the identity of the employee raising the complaint, is kept confidential except where reasonably necessary

This is not merely a best-practice recommendation — it is a statutory requirement. Employers who do not have a documented grievance procedure in place at commencement will be in breach from day one. Building a compliant grievance process takes time: it requires drafting, review, integration into employee handbooks, and communication to the workforce.

Recruitment Documentation Obligations

The WFA requires that employers be able to demonstrate, if challenged, that hiring decisions were made on a merit basis and without reference to protected characteristics. This means maintaining structured recruitment documentation: assessment criteria, interview scoring frameworks, and notes from interviews and selection processes.

For employers already subject to the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), some of this is familiar. The FCF requires EP-sponsoring employers to advertise positions on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 days and to consider Singaporeans fairly before hiring foreign nationals. Our article on the FCF job advertisement requirement covers these obligations in detail.

The WFA goes further than the FCF: it applies to employment decisions affecting all employees, including Singapore Citizens and PRs, and it covers not just hiring but also performance reviews, promotions, and dismissals. Employers who have robust FCF documentation processes will have a head start, but will need to extend those practices to the full employment lifecycle.

Penalties Under the Workplace Fairness Act

The WFA establishes a new Tripartite Fair Employment Practices Tribunal to hear discrimination claims. Remedies available to the Tribunal include:

  • Reinstatement to the original or equivalent position
  • Compensation for lost earnings
  • Civil penalties of up to SGD 50,000 per violation for employing organisations

For victimisation of employees who raise WFA complaints — for example, dismissal or demotion in retaliation for raising a grievance — the Act provides for criminal penalties in the most serious cases. Employers who attempt to silence employees after a complaint are exposed to significantly higher liability than those who respond to complaints in good faith.

How the WFA Interacts with Work Pass Obligations for Employers

Employers who sponsor foreign employees on Employment Passes or S Passes already operate under the FCF’s nationality fairness requirements. The WFA adds a broader layer: it applies to all 11 protected characteristics across all employment decisions, regardless of the employee’s nationality or pass type.

This means that a Singapore employer who has carefully managed FCF documentation for EP applications still needs to review its broader HR practices for WFA compliance. A WFA-compliant employer needs fair, documented processes for promotion decisions (not just hiring), performance improvement plans, and disciplinary procedures across the whole workforce.

For a practical picture of how work pass hiring fits within a compliant HR framework, our MOM HR Compliance Calendar 2026 sets out the full year of employer compliance milestones.

Practical Preparation Steps for SME Employers

Given an end-2027 commencement target, businesses should begin WFA preparation now. The following steps are realistic for an SME to complete before commencement:

  1. Audit job advertisements. Review all current and template job advertisements for language that refers to protected characteristics. Remove age ranges, gender specifications, and similar language that would not be defensible as a genuine occupational requirement.
  2. Establish a written grievance procedure. Draft or commission a grievance procedure that satisfies the Section 27 requirements. Integrate it into your employee handbook and brief all managers on how to receive and handle complaints.
  3. Implement structured recruitment records. Introduce standardised interview scoring templates and assessment criteria for all roles. Train hiring managers to document their reasoning for selection decisions.
  4. Review performance and promotion processes. Ensure that performance review frameworks are based on objective, measurable criteria and that outcome records are maintained.
  5. Train managers. Line managers are the front line of WFA compliance — their decisions on hiring, promotions, and performance management will be the ones most scrutinised. A short training session on the 11 protected characteristics and what constitutes a prohibited employment decision is a practical starting point.
  6. Revisit employment contracts. Contracts should not contain terms that directly or indirectly discriminate based on protected characteristics.

How LBEA and Raffles Corporate Services Can Help

Little Big Employment Agency (LBEA) is a MOM-licensed employment agency (Licence No. 19C9790) supporting Singapore employers across work pass applications, employer compliance, and workforce planning. As the WFA commencement approaches, employers who are also managing EP and S Pass applications will need to ensure that their foreign hiring processes are aligned with both the FCF and the WFA’s broader documentation requirements.

For further guidance on work pass hiring and employment compliance, visit Singapore Employment Agency. For broader HR outsourcing, company secretarial support, and corporate governance advisory as your business prepares for WFA compliance, Raffles Corporate Services provides complementary support across the compliance lifecycle.

— The Editorial Team, Little Big Employment Agency

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