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Employment Claims Tribunals in Singapore: When a Filipino Worker's Claim Goes to the ECT, and How the Hearing Works

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By iStart Editorial Team·Published November 6, 2026

Employment Claims Tribunals in Singapore: When a Filipino Worker's Claim Goes to the ECT, and How the Hearing Works

The mediation session ended without a deal, or your employer's chair stayed empty. The mediator handed you a claim referral certificate, and now a new word sits in front of you: tribunal. Do you need a lawyer? Can you afford it? What happens in that room?

This is for an employment dispute that mediation did not settle: the step after the TADM mediation that comes first. This guide follows the State Courts' and MOM's pages as published in October 2026; like the Courts, it gives no legal advice.

What the Employment Claims Tribunals Are

The Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) are part of Singapore's State Courts, and they hear salary-related claims and wrongful dismissal claims. The Courts call the ECT "a speedy and low-cost forum". MOM says the ECT and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) were set up in 2017; the Employment Claims Act 2016 came into force on 1 April 2017.

You can file at the ECT only if your dispute is still unresolved after TADM mediation and an approved mediator there has issued you a claim referral certificate. Once it is issued, TADM says you must file with the ECT within 4 weeks "as required by law". If your employer never came to mediation, TADM says you may take the dispute to the ECT, which may order costs against the absent party.

What the ECT Can Hear, and Who Cannot File There

The ECT hears three kinds of employee claim, as the State Courts list them:

  • Statutory salary-related claims under the Employment Act, the Retirement and Re-employment Act and the Child Development Co-Savings Act: unpaid salary, overtime your employer asked for, rest-day and public holiday pay, unauthorised deductions, salary in lieu of notice.
  • Contractual salary-related claims: a bonus, commission or retrenchment benefit stated in your contract.
  • Wrongful dismissal claims: dismissal "without just cause or excuse", read against the tripartite guidelines on wrongful dismissal. MOM says these come from employees covered by the Employment Act and the Child Development Co-Savings Act. You can ask for reinstatement with the wages you lost, or for compensation the tribunal decides.

Some disputes go elsewhere. Work injury is not the ECT's. On MOM's page, the Work Injury Compensation Act lets employees claim for work-related injuries "without having to take legal action". Unpaid CPF contributions go to the CPF Board.

Four groups cannot file there: public servants, foreign domestic workers, seafarers and the self-employed. The first three may bring certain statutory salary-related and wrongful dismissal claims to TADM and the ECT, the Courts say, such as maternity benefits and employment assistance payments. Otherwise, if you are a domestic worker, the Courts point you to MOM's Foreign Domestic Worker helpline, 1800 339 5505 (weekdays only). Your employer must also reside, or have a registered office or place of business, in Singapore.

The Claim Limit

The ECT hears a claim of up to S$20,000, or S$30,000 if you went through the Tripartite Mediation Framework or a recognised union's mediation, as published in October 2026. Under the Courts' guide, a salary-related claim and a wrongful dismissal claim each carry that limit.

Owed more than that? You can still be heard by abandoning the excess, but you can never recover that amount, in any tribunal or court. You cannot split one dispute to fit. If your amount is near the limit, get independent advice before you file.

Filing Your Employment Claim Within 4 Weeks

You file an employment claim online, in the Courts' Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS), within 4 weeks after the date your certificate was issued. You log in with Singpass, or a CJTS Pass if you are not eligible. A pre-filing assessment comes first; it "is not conclusive and is not legal advice".

  • The fee: S$30 per claim of S$10,000 or less, S$60 above that (October 2026).
  • One form each: no joint filing with co-workers, and a salary-related claim and a wrongful dismissal claim go on separate forms.
  • Documents: your passport and work pass, the certificate, and your employment contract, payslips, key employment terms, time sheets or bank statements, in English or with a certified translation.
  • Language: if English is hard for you, choose the language you are comfortable with, and the tribunal will try to arrange an interpreter.

Within 7 days of filing your employment claim, you serve the Notice of Case Management Conference on your employer, by hand or registered post, then file a declaration of service. The earliest conference date is within 3 to 4 weeks of filing. Before then, your employer may start eNegotiation on CJTS; settle there, and you need not go to court.

How a claim goes to Singapore's Employment Claims Tribunals, as published by the State Courts in October 2026: a claim referral certificate from an approved TADM mediator when your dispute is still unresolved; filing on CJTS within 4 weeks after the date your certificate was issued; serving the Notice of Case Management Conference within 7 days of filing; a compulsory case management conference; and, if the dispute does not settle, a hearing before a tribunal magistrate.

The Case Management Conference

The case management conference (CMC), the first step of the tribunal process you attend in person, is held in private at the State Courts before a deputy registrar or assistant registrar, who tries to help both sides settle. A settlement becomes a consent order. Attendance is compulsory for each party, and there is no charge; you get an email 3 days before and an SMS 1 day before.

Bring your passport and work pass and the originals of everything you uploaded. If the dispute does not settle, the registrar fixes a hearing.

How the Hearing Works

The hearing is before a tribunal magistrate, a judge who directs how it runs. Each side presents its case. The tribunal asks whether the claim is made out on the documents, and whether anyone stayed away from mediation or the proceedings without a reasonable excuse. Section 20 of the Act is headed "Hearing to be informal, etc."

Lawyers cannot represent either party, the Courts say, and section 19 of the Act deals with representation: you present your own case. The exceptions include a recognised union's officer and, with approval, a person you authorise in writing if illiteracy or infirmity stops you from presenting it yourself. A family member, friend or volunteer may accompany you under the Courts' CCT Friend Scheme, if the tribunal approves.

The tribunal may order money to be paid, dismiss all or part of a claim, award costs, reinstate you with lost wages, or award compensation for wrongful dismissal. The first hearing day is free; after that, S$30 or S$60 a day, depending on the amount claimed (October 2026).

Missed Dates, Appeals and Enforcement

If you miss a conference or hearing without a reasonable excuse, a default order can follow; if you filed the case, it can be dismissed. You may apply to set it aside within 7 days, for S$30, and it is not automatic.

A decision made by a registrar at the conference goes to a tribunal magistrate. A tribunal's decision goes to the General Division of the High Court only with the District Court's permission, on a question of law or jurisdiction (section 23 of the Act); those are the only grounds the Courts list.

An Employment Claims Tribunal order can be enforced like a District Court judgment, but the ECT does not start the enforcement process for you, and the Courts say enforcement "does not guarantee an outcome". TADM says MOM may act against employers who fail to pay, including suspending their work pass privileges.

Your Pass While a Claim Is Open

The Ministry of Manpower's pages read for this guide do not set out a worker's own right to stay in Singapore while an ECT case is open. Their lines are for employers: an outstanding salary payment is a reason an employer may ask MOM to extend a pass holder's stay, backed by TADM's or MOM's official letter, and an employer must settle salary owed before cancelling a Work Permit. Before your pass ends, ask TADM's stay and work-pass service at the MOM Services Centre on Bendemeer Road.

Keep the folder you built for this dispute, and start one with every next contract: readiness is also your own record of the work you did.

A Filipino carpenter sands a timber shelf in a bare shop interior in Singapore in soft afternoon light, steady and absorbed in his work.

Free Help, and a Warning

MOM's hotline is 6438 5122. Every fee goes to the Courts through CJTS, and beyond the exceptions above, no agent, paid or otherwise, may represent you. Court officers will never ask you to transfer money or share bank log-ins by phone; if unsure, call ScamShield on 1799. For the Philippine side, see what the Philippine Embassy can do.

Before Your First Court Date: A Checklist

  • Certificate's issue date noted, and 4 weeks counted from it
  • Singpass or a CJTS Pass working
  • Documents in English, uploaded as PDF, originals kept
  • Notice served within 7 days, declaration of service filed
  • Conference date in your calendar, passport and work pass ready

The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most

Can I bring a lawyer to my employment claim hearing?

No. Lawyers are not allowed to represent parties; a recognised union's officer or an approved person you authorise in writing are the exceptions.

What is the Employment Claims Act?

The Employment Claims Act 2016, in force from 1 April 2017, provides for the ECT and the mediation that comes before it. The Courts list the Employment Claims Rules 2017 and Regulations 2017 alongside it.

Sources

Read 26 October 2026: