SINGAPORE: A Singaporean employee faced severe verbal abuse from her boss, who also forced the employee to leave the company without prior notice. Her friend later turned to social media to question if such practices are common in Singapore.
“My friend and I had worked in the same company but different position. I had left the company for few months but after that I realized that my friend had been force to leave the company without any prior notice and mistake,” she wrote on r/askSingapore.
“Some more while asking her to leave, the boss chooses the meanest way to ask her leave, cursing, using f word, say she is bxxtch. Forced her to write a declaration letter and did not pay her one month notice salary.
Is this common while working here and she just has to take it?” she asked.
She added that the whole ordeal left her friend “totally freaked out and depressed,” underscoring the emotional toll the situation had taken on her.
“Common or not, it’s definitely wrong.”
In the discussion thread, netizens expressed strong sympathy for the employee, asserting that no one should have to put up with verbal abuse at work.
They also pointed out that in Singapore, employees are generally entitled to proper notice before termination and should be treated with respect throughout the process.
Many urged the affected employee to seek legal advice and report the abusive conduct to relevant authorities, such as the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment (TAFEP), to address the situation.
One netizen said, “Common or not, it’s definitely wrong. Report to MOM, & hope your friend feels better now, no employee deserves to be treated that way.”
Another commented, “File a police report for harassment and complain to TAFEP.”
Some netizens also speculated that the employee might have been working at a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), where toxic behaviour and problematic bosses can be more common.
One netizen expressed, “It’s not normal, yet very common in SMEs. Problem is, the employee usually doesn’t have any option since they are working and need the money, while the employer has lots of money to sustain any lost of income if out of a job.”
Another stated, “Can happen in SME. Not possible to fire someone on the spot in MNC unless it’s something serious like theft, assault, outrage of modesty, giving your boss the finger etc…
If poor work performance will have to go through PIP first. If you have enough evidence of unfair dismissal you can go to MOM.”
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