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Notes for use
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.
Conduct and performance are not the same process
A warning for misconduct requires a due inquiry under the Employment Act. A performance improvement plan does not, because falling short of a standard despite genuine effort is not misconduct. Running one process for both is the root of most defective dismissals — either the employee is denied an inquiry they were entitled to, or a performance conversation is turned into an adversarial hearing that damages the working relationship for no legal benefit.
Due inquiry comes first, then the warning
The order is not cosmetic. A warning drafted before the inquiry, and a meeting held to confirm a decision already made, is visible in the dates and undermines everything built on it later. Check 2 in Annexure D exists for this.
State facts, not adjectives
A warning recording that an employee is "unprofessional", "difficult" or "not a team player" cannot be answered, cannot be verified, and will not support a later dismissal. State what happened, on what date, and what standard it fell short of. If it cannot be written that way, it is not yet ready to be a warning.
Requirements must be observable
The improvement plan table asks for a required standard and how it will be measured. "Improve quality" is not a standard. "Reduce error rate on submitted files to below X per cent, measured by the monthly review, by 30 June" is. This protects the employee, who can see what is required, and the employer, who can show whether it was met.
Offer real support
A plan that lists requirements and offers nothing reads as a paper exercise preceding a dismissal, and is often exactly that. Where the employer has provided training, clearer briefs and regular feedback, a subsequent termination is straightforward to defend. Where it has not, the question becomes whether the employee was ever given a fair chance.
Ask whether something else is going on
Both letters ask. A significant proportion of sudden performance decline has a cause outside work — health, bereavement, caring responsibilities, financial stress — or inside it, such as a difficult manager or an unreported harassment issue. Asking costs one sentence and frequently changes the right course of action entirely.
Health and disability change the analysis
Where capability is affected by a disability or health condition, the first step is reasonable adjustment, not warning. Disability and mental health conditions are protected characteristics under the Workplace Fairness Act, which will make discrimination actionable when it commences at the end of 2027. A performance process run over an unaddressed health issue is a serious risk.
Watch pregnancy, family leave and caregiving
Performance processes commencing shortly after a pregnancy announcement, a period of family leave, or a flexible work request are the pattern most likely to be challenged. That does not make them impermissible, but it means the documentation must be strong and the timing explicable on its own terms.
Consistency is half the defence
The same conduct treated as a verbal caution for one employee and a final warning for another is the fact that decides a claim. The register in Annexure C is what makes consistency visible before the letter goes out, rather than in cross-examination.
Warnings should lapse
A warning that remains on file indefinitely is neither fair nor useful, and relying on a stale warning to justify dismissal invites the argument that the process was cumulative rather than responsive. State the duration and diarise the lapse.
Give an appeal, and mean it
An appeal considered by someone independent catches errors cheaply, at a stage when they can still be fixed. An appeal heard by the person who issued the warning is not an appeal, and its existence on paper makes the position worse rather than better.
If the employee refuses to sign
Acknowledgement is receipt, not agreement, and the letters say so. Where an employee refuses to sign, record the refusal, note that the letter was read aloud or handed over, and have a witness confirm it. Do not treat refusal to sign as further misconduct.
Keep the response on file
An employee’s written response, kept alongside the warning, demonstrates that the process allowed disagreement. Files containing only the employer’s account are less persuasive, not more.
Where it ends in termination
Termination following a performance process is on the contractual notice, with all sums payable on the last day. It is not dismissal for misconduct and should not be documented as such. Where the employee holds a work pass, tax clearance and withholding obligations apply from the moment the decision is known.
Current as of
Reflects Singapore law current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. Due inquiry requirements, suspension limits, Tribunal claim limits and the pending Workplace Fairness Act all change, and a review of the Employment Act is under way with proposals expected in the second half of 2026 — take advice before issuing a final warning to a long-serving employee or anyone in the circumstances described above.
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.