Latest News

S’pore Engineer Sued For Keeping Bonus After Resigning, Has To Return Full Sum To Company

Company Sues Singapore Engineer For Refusing To Return Bonus

Recently, a company in Singapore brought an ex-employee to court for refusing to return his incentive money.

According to reports, the engineer received the bonus a day after tendering his resignation.

Following the trial, the court asked the engineer to return the claim as requested by the company.

Engineer handed in resignation a day before receiving bonus

According to court documents, the defendant Mr Sia Chien Kian tendered his notice of resignation on 25 March 2022.

A day later, he received the “variable incentive” — or bonus — in his bank account.

Source: Yandex, for illustration purposes only.

The company, Quantum Technologies Global Pte Ltd, then asked Mr Sia to return the bonus, claiming he was not eligible.

8world News reported that when the latter refused, the two parties went to court.

Quantum Technologies Global sought to claim the S$8,424 bonus paid out to Mr Sia.

Court documents revealed that the sum comprised S$7,200 paid in cash and another S$1,224 paid to Mr Sia’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) account.

Ex-staff claims he was unaware of clause in Employee Handbook

In court, Quantum Technologies Global argued that Mr Sia was not eligible for the incentive.

 

Based on a clause in the company’s Employee Handbook, he does not qualify for the bonus as he is serving his notice period in the same month the incentive is declared or paid.

However, he had received it nonetheless as the company had processed the bonus before receiving his resignation.

In response, Mr Sia claimed that he was not aware of the clause.

Additionally, he argued that the Employee Handbook was not part of his employment letter when he signed it on 18 Nov 2020.

Court orders engineer to return full sum of bonus

Despite Mr Sia’s arguments, the judge ruled in favour of the company.

Based on the court document, District Judge Vince Gui stated that Mr Sia was fully aware of the Employee Handbook.

In fact, on 9 Mar 2021, the company emailed Mr Sia informing him that the latest version of the handbook was available on a “Public Drive”.

Furthermore, a Human Resource (HR) staff from the company had informed him of clause 9 in his employment letter.

This clause expressly states that an employee would be “subject to such further terms as laid down in the prevailing Employee Handbook”.

As such, District Judge could not accept Mr Sia’s arguments and ordered him to return the bonus amount to the company

Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.

Featured image by MS News. 

Dayana Rizal

Dayana needs coffee, all the time. She takes daily dopamine-breaks in the sun.

Recent Posts

Aliff Aziz claims he couldn’t resist cheating on wife as his ‘soul felt empty’

He also said that he is ready to give her custody of their two children.

14 May 2024, 6:26 pm

Retirement resort in M’sia has infinity pool & mountain views, fees start from S$1.5K/month

Monthly rent fees range from S$1,500 to S$2,100 for two people per month.

14 May 2024, 6:04 pm

LTA refutes online allegations that OBU does not meet international standards, says rigorous testing was done

LTA reiterated that the OBU's processing unit functioned like a mini-computer and generated heat while…

14 May 2024, 5:44 pm

Netizen complains Chiang Mai’s ‘red taxis’ will soon disappear without patronage, locals say ‘good riddance’

One netizen said one miserable experience seven years ago turned him away forever.

14 May 2024, 5:43 pm

Johor aims to be ‘Shenzhen of Southeast Asia’ with Johor-S’pore Special Economic Zone

The zone is predicted to be twice the size of Shenzhen.

14 May 2024, 4:13 pm

Do nothing for 90 minutes: Seoul holds ‘space-out’ competition with 80 teams competing

Many contestants wore unique outfits and brought props to win over the audience.

14 May 2024, 2:37 pm