CNA – The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will have strong governance measures against attempts to game a points system for Employment Passes (EP) that will be introduced in 2023, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in Parliament yesterday.
“It is not our intention, but we will not hesitate to take employers to task if firms are found to have falsely declared information to get the application approved,” said Dr Tan.
He was responding to clarifications from Members of Parliament on the new Complementarity Assessment Framework or COMPASS, which is to come into effect for new EP applicants in September 2023.
Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Yio Chu Kang) had asked the minister whether the transparency of the COMPASS framework would allow employers to “game the new system”. The new framework requires firms hiring foreigners on EPs to chalk up at least 40 points on various criteria, including the candidate’s salary, qualifications, the firm’s nationality diversity and its support for local employment.
The application can also score bonus points if the candidate fills a job on a list of occupations that are short of workers.
Dr Tan said that the ministry already has “strong governance measures” to guard against “dishonest attempts” to game the system and will strengthen its enforcement process.
“Today we already have processes to enforce against fraud for criteria considered in our current framework such as salary and qualifications,” he said.
