On 10 Oct 99, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) together with the Tanglin Police Division conducted an inspection on 12 retail shops and food outlets at Lucky Plaza Shopping Centre situated at 304 Orchard Road, Singapore 238863.

During the inspection, a total of 57 workers were checked at Lucky Plaza Shopping Centre. Of these, 17 were illegal foreign workers who were found working as Shop or Stall Assistants without valid work permits. The Ministry’s preliminary investigation revealed that among them, 11 were foreign domestic workers, one immigration offender and the rest were foreigners without valid work permits.

The Ministry takes a very serious view of foreign domestic workers who moon-light while holding work permits to work in Singapore. Under the Foreign Domestic Workers Scheme, they are only allowed to perform work for the official employers at the address as stated in the work permit cards. Those who violate the condition under Section 5(2) of Employment of Foreign Workers Act will face a fine of up to $5000 and be barred from future employment.

The Ministry would also like to remind employers not to employ foreign workers without valid work permits. Any person caught employing foreigners without valid work permits will be charged in Court. The first-time offender faces a minimum fine equivalent to two years of the foreign worker’s levy and a maximum fine up to four years’ levy for each foreign worker, or imprisonment up to one year, or both. For the second and subsequent conviction, the penalty will be a mandatory jail sentence of one to 12 months in addition to the above fines.

Those found guilty of employing overstayers and illegal immigrants, face a jail term of not less than 6 months and not more than 2 years and shall also be liable to a fine of up to $6,000. In addition, the offender will be caned if he employed more than 5 immigration offenders.