Employment

Made up of deeply experienced and highly regarded lawyers, this specialised practice provides seamless full spectrum advice, representation and support for employers and senior executives.

With over 40 lawyers led by Desmond Wee and Jonathan Yuen, our employment lawyers are among the very best in their specialist field. Rajah & Tann Singapore has one of the largest teams of specialist lawyers in Singapore working on employment matters, frequently with a regional overview. We specialise in high value, complex, multi-jurisdictional employment work, representing multinational corporations and senior employees.

Our integrated, full spectrum employment law practice gives clients an unrivalled and unique edge as we are capable of advising on all aspects of employment law across each of the 10 ASEAN countries from drafting structuring and advising in respect of employment and HR documentation and processes, retrenchments, advising on and conducting employee and workplace training, investigations and disciplinary processes, to representation and negotiations for contentious employment matters including policy-driven issues with unions and governments.

We are the Singapore member firm of lus Laboris – a leading legal network specialising in employment and labour law with a worldwide coverage of over 50 countries and over 1400 lawyers. Jonathan Yuen, our Head of Employment (Disputes) was also appointed in 2022 to the global editorial board of International Employment Lawyer, as the sole Singapore representative, joining the ranks of 20 top ranked global employment lawyers.

TOP-RANKED PRACTICE

We have a market-leading reputation for full-spectrum employment law advisory and representation, having garnered top-tier recognition by various legal publications, namely Band 1 by Chambers Asia Pacific, Tier 1 by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Tier 1 by Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific, and Outstanding Asialaw Profiles.

According to clients, the “Rajah & Tann team is outstanding. Their quality is consistently top-notch; responsiveness and strategic thinking are strengths. They are always driving for the client’s commercial goal and focused on recovery”, and are able to see the big picture in providing “sharp and balanced advice that is clear, practical and readily applicable to the circumstances.”

WITHIN THIS PRACTICE

Practice areas

The following provides a very brief summary of the main areas covered by this practice, and the ways in which we are most frequently able to help our clients. For more detailed information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Employment appointment and termination

Advise private, public and multinational companies extensively on employment related matters, including appointment, rights and duties of employees and employers and termination.
Draft employment agreements for employees at multiple levels.
Advise clients on cross border employment concerns.
Draft cross border employment agreements.
Advise and draft relevant documentation in relation to secondment / re-location of employees at various levels, within Singapore and across jurisdictions, including advising on tax and other incidental implications.
Advise on issues relating to termination of employees, including to draft exit documentation, separation agreements and exit negotiation.
Advise on unfair or constructive dismissal allegations across the region and to defend against such claims.

Employment policies

Advise, design and draft various forms of employee handbooks and manuals dealing with employee entitlements, rights and obligations.
Advise, design and draft various policies on employee data and privacy protection, monitoring, use of databases, info-tech systems / platforms and other modes of communication.
Advise, design and draft whistle-blowing policies, grievance reporting, investigation and disciplinary (GRID) policies, assist with implementation processes and conduct regular training for continuity.
Advise, design and drafting ethics, anti-corruption, anti-trust, health and various other types of policies.

Confidentiality, restraint of trade and non-competes

Advise in the structuring and drafting as well as representation in negotiations, mediations, judicial and tribunal proceedings on all aspects of restraint and non-compete provisions for various levels of employees across all industries.
Advise, design and draft policies intended to protect the confidentiality of trade secrets and other proprietary information.
Advise, design and draft data protection policies.
Advise, design and draft non-compete provisions, and defend the same at judicial / tribunal proceedings.

Executive compensation

Advise, design and drafting various forms of compensation and benefit plans and agreements.
Advise, design and draft Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) including providing advice relating to tax.
Advise, design and drafting Long Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs).
Advise on benefits issues in corporate reorganisations and restructuring, including advice on post-closing benefits issues and plan terminations or restructuring.

Restructuring, reorganisation and retrenchments

Advise on cross-jurisdictional restructuring and retrenchment exercise of large multinational corporations and financial institutions.
Draft notice and exit documentation for management of employees being retrenched, subsequent placements and referrals.
Advise on complying with pre-retrenchment obligations, as well as requisite training and re-skilling opportunities to be provided to retrenched employees.
Advise on and defend against claims arising out of the retrenchment exercises.
Engage, negotiate with and manage governmental / regulatory authorities and unions in restructuring, reorganisation and retrenchments.

Occupational health and safety

Advise on various aspect of compliance with health and safety regulations.
Advise on and defend against health and safety investigations, prosecutions.
Advise on COVID, SARS, H1N1 (Swine Flu) and other pandemics in relation to instituting best practices to manage compliance with regulatory requirements, leave and other benefit issues, and employee privacy matters.

Mergers and acquisitions

Advise on the exit and/or transfer of employees resulting from mergers and acquisitions.
Advise on the rationalisation of human resource policies in merged entities.

Contentious employment issues

Enforcement of non-solicitation, non-competition clauses and confidentiality agreements.
Investigate, prosecute and/or exit employees for fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, business diversion and unauthorised exfiltration of confidential information / intellectual property.
Advise on and represent clients in disputes arising from:
- Wrongful / constructive termination or retrenchments, payment and/or clawback of salary, bonus, commissions, stock options etc.
- Breach of obligations of mutual trust and confidence, fiduciary duties.
- Harassment, discrimination, workplace bullying and retaliation claims.

Advise on and conduct investigations in respect of fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, business diversion, theft of confidential information / intellectual property, harassment, discrimination, workplace bullying and retaliation.
Conduct investigations and/or advise on complaints made in respect of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) Guidelines, Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) and other guidelines and advisories.
Advise on and defend against claims and/or investigations by statutory bodies such as the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Central Provident Fund (CPF), TAFEP and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).