Twelve Cupcakes Admits They Underpaid 7 Employees, Faces Up To $127,000 Fine

Twelve Cupcakes Underpaid 7 Employees For 2 Years, Pleads Guilty

Twelve Cupcakes is a popular choice for parties and gatherings and has 35 outlets here.

However, they have admitted guilt in underpaying 7 foreign employees over 2 years on Thursday (10 Dec). The total missing sum is about $114,000.

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Staff were given between $200-$1,200 lesser than what was promised, and the prosecution seeks a $127,000 fine for their offences.

Twelve Cupcakes pleads guilty to underpaying 7 employees

Ministry of Manpower (MOM) investigations in Dec 2018 revealed that 7 employees were underpaid between $200-$1,200.

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Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that affected staff include:

• sales executives
• customer service executives
• a pastry chef

They were promised salaries between $2,200 and $2,600.

These people were given S-Passes to work for Twelve Cupcakes.

Efforts to conceal offenses

According to The Straits Times, Twelve Cupcakes initially paid salaries directly into the employees’ bank accounts.

However, to conceal the trail of offences, MOM prosecutor Maximilian Chew said they started paying the full sum before asking staff to return a portion of their salary in cash.

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Mr Chew highlighted the elusive nature of such underhanded methods, saying Twelve Cupcakes would have continued short-changing employees if MOM didn’t find out about the offences.

He is pushing for a $127,000 fine, citing the extended duration of time the offences were made.

Each offence of underpaying foreign employees can incur a fine of up to $10,000.

Twelve Cupcakes returned salaries in full

In Twelve Cupcakes’ mitigation, their defence lawyer Selvarajan Balamurugan said that they’ve returned the payments that employees were owed.

They’ve also continued to pay employees their full salaries in 2020.

Mr Balamurugan also said his client accepts that they shouldn’t have continued the allegedly inherited practice when they took over from ex-owners Daniel Ong and Jaime Teo.

Deterrence needed to prevent exploitation

Singapore relies heavily on foreign manpower. To know that businesses are undercutting them can be a dent on our reputation as a place to work in.

Thankfully, the offences were discovered and the culprits will be taken to task. But we have to send a message that such undercutting can’t be condoned.

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Featured image adapted from Twelve Cupcakes.