Issuing written key employment terms is a statutory obligation, not a courtesy. They must be given to every covered employee within fourteen days of starting work, and they are the first document the Ministry of Manpower or the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management will ask to see. An employer that issues an offer letter and nothing further has not complied.
Key Employment Terms
[COMPANY NAME]
Issuing written key employment terms is a statutory obligation, not a courtesy. They must be given to every covered employee within fourteen days of starting work, and they are the first document the Ministry of Manpower or the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management will ask to see. An employer that issues an offer letter and nothing further has not complied.
[COMPANY NAME] UEN: [UEN] [REGISTERED ADDRESS]
Issued to: [EMPLOYEE NAME] Date of issue: [DATE]
Must be issued within 14 days of the employee starting work.
1. Prescribed Particulars
| # | Item | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full name of employer | [COMPANY NAME] |
| 2 | Full name of employee | [EMPLOYEE NAME] |
| 3 | Job title | [JOB TITLE] |
| 4 | Main duties and responsibilities | [SUMMARISE, OR CROSS-REFER TO AN ANNEXED JOB DESCRIPTION] |
| 5 | Start date of employment | [DATE] |
| 6 | Duration of employment | [Permanent / Fixed term from ______ to ______] |
| 7 | Working arrangements — daily working hours | [HOURS], from [TIME] to [TIME] |
| 8 | Working arrangements — number of working days per week | [NUMBER] |
| 9 | Working arrangements — rest day | [DAY] |
| 10 | Salary period | [Monthly / Weekly / Daily] |
| 11 | Basic salary | S$ [AMOUNT] per [month] |
| 12 | For hourly, daily or piece-rated workers, the basic rate of pay | S$ [AMOUNT] per [hour / day / piece] |
| 13 | Fixed allowances | [ITEMISE EACH — name and amount] |
| 14 | Fixed deductions | [ITEMISE EACH — name and amount] |
2. Salary
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These notes accompany the template and explain the drafting choices, the compliance points and the mistakes most often made with this document. They appear as a final page in the Word file, intended to be deleted before the document is executed.
Key employment terms must be issued in writing within fourteen days of the employee starting work. The obligation covers employees under a contract of service who are employed for fourteen days or more; it is not limited to senior staff or to Singapore citizens. An establishment that issues offer letters but no key employment terms has not complied, and it is among the first things an inspection or a dispute will surface.
Key employment terms may be provided electronically — by email, or through a portal the employee can access and retain. What matters is that the employee receives them, can keep them, and that the employer can evidence issue. Keep the acknowledgement.
The payslip requirement stands alongside key employment terms and is often missed. A payslip must be issued with payment, or within three working days of it, and must itemise basic salary, allowances, deductions, overtime hours and pay, and net salary. Issuing a bank transfer with no payslip is a contravention even where the amount is correct.
Part IV of the Employment Act governs hours of work, rest days and overtime, and applies to workmen and to other employees earning not more than the prescribed monthly basic salary. It does not apply to managers or executives. Overtime for covered employees is payable at 1.5 times the hourly basic rate — note that this differs from jurisdictions applying a double-time rate. Determine coverage for each role and record it, rather than treating the whole workforce alike.
Contributions are payable for Singapore citizens and permanent residents only. It is an offence for an employer to make Central Provident Fund contributions for Employment Pass, S Pass or Work Permit holders. This is the reverse of the position in several neighbouring jurisdictions and is a common error in regional payroll systems. Where a pass holder becomes a permanent resident, contributions start from the date of status change.
Contributions are computed on Ordinary Wages up to a monthly ceiling and on Additional Wages up to an annual ceiling, at rates that vary by age band. Both the ceilings and the rates have been revised in recent years, including increases for older workers. Verify the current figures against the Central Provident Fund Board before each payroll year rather than carrying forward last year’s configuration.
Where the employer terminates, all sums due are payable on the last day of employment. Where the employee resigns and serves the required notice, payment is due within three working days. Where the employee resigns without notice, within seven days. Employers frequently apply a single settlement timetable to all three and are late in the first case.
The Employment Act requires a due inquiry before an employee is dismissed for misconduct. There is no prescribed procedure, but the inquiry must be fair: the employee must know the allegation, have a genuine opportunity to answer it, and the person deciding should not be the complainant. Dismissals without inquiry are the most common basis for a wrongful dismissal claim at the Employment Claims Tribunal.
Paternity leave became a mandatory four weeks in April 2025, and shared parental leave rose to ten weeks for children born or adopted from 1 April 2026. Handbooks and key employment terms drafted before these dates understate entitlements. State entitlements as at least the statutory minimum and review them annually.
The statutory retirement age is 64 and the re-employment age is 69, both raised with effect from 1 July 2026 and scheduled to rise further. An employer may not dismiss a Singapore citizen or permanent resident below the retirement age on the ground of age, and must consider eligible employees for re-employment. Update templates that still state 63 and 68.
Where the arrangement is hybrid or remote, describe it — how many days, from where, and what notice applies to a change. A later requirement to attend an office five days a week, where the terms said otherwise, is a change of terms and should be handled as one.
Items 13 and 14 require each fixed allowance and each fixed deduction to be named with its amount. A single line reading "allowances" does not satisfy the requirement and makes the payslip impossible to reconcile.
Employers must maintain records of employees covered by the Employment Act, including salary and leave records, and retain them for the prescribed period — currently two years for existing employees and one year after an employee leaves. The key employment terms are the first record; the salary and leave registers are what an inspection examines next.
A significant review of the Employment Act is under way, with proposals expected during the second half of 2026. Coverage thresholds, Part IV scope and salary caps are all candidates for change. Diarise a review of this template once the outcome is published.
Reflects Singapore law current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. Central Provident Fund rates and ceilings, leave entitlements, retirement and re-employment ages, Part IV thresholds and notice defaults all change — have this template reviewed by an employment adviser and a payroll specialist before use, and again at the start of each year.
This is a ready-to-use template provided for convenience. Laws and requirements change, and every situation is different — please have it reviewed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, corporate secretary, or accountant as relevant) before you rely on it.