I got “fired without notice” by my boss over the phone because he didn’t want to pay my bonus

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean worker sought social media advice after being fired over the phone due to ‘poor performance.’

Posting on r/askSingapore, a Reddit forum, on Monday (Dec 16), the worker shared that a colleague had delivered the news to her over the phone at 2 pm on Sunday, Dec 15, which took her completely by surprise.

“I am seething. This is all I can think about since I got the call,” she said. “She [my colleague] informed me I had been fired without notice, and my bosses were not paying me the one month’s extra as stipulated in the contract.”

While her employer insisted the dismissal was performance-related, the worker suspects the real reason was to avoid paying her pro-rated 0.5-month bonus, due in just 16 days.

She started on July 1 and explained that her 5.5 months with the company were filled with challenges. During that relatively short period, her job scope was changed “three times without any prior discussion.”

However, despite these changes, she was confident that her work was still up to standard. 

“I have WhatsApp screenshots of me doing work on 6 Dec and my boss replying ‘good job’ to me. My work performance is ok. My colleague who had to fire me said so herself,” she wrote. 

“She said she and colleague #2 tried to persuade the boss not to fire me because my work performance was ok. I’ve been doing everything they asked. But he just wanted to fire me immediately anyway, with no one-month notice pay.”

The worker also said she was not the first to experience this, as two of her colleagues were dismissed without any solid reason. 

“The problem is, my employment contract isn’t signed. They asked me to re-draft, sign and print the contracts, but the signed version was never returned to me. This happened recently on 26 Nov. This is where I think I will be screwed. They have a copy of the signed contract, but I do not,” she wrote.

She then asked the Reddit community whether the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) could help her recover a signed copy of her employment contract, as she feared the absence of it would hurt her case.

“Can anyone share their prior experience with getting TADM & ECT to help against the exact issue I’m facing?” she asked.

“Head to TADM with everything…”

In the discussion thread, Singaporean Redditors urged her to approach TADM for assistance.

One Redditor said, “Head to TADM with everything. To fire you for poor performance, they would need to put you on PIP or have some documentation that you are indeed a poor performer, and even then, you will need notice.”

On the other hand, some Redditors expressed more skepticism, pointing out that while it was encouraging that her boss had praised her work with a “good job”, such feedback didn’t necessarily mean her performance was perfect or up to standard.

A few others also suggested that she carefully review the details of her contract to see if there were any clauses or provisions that could help strengthen her case—for instance, looking for specific terms about performance reviews, bonuses, or termination procedures that might not have been followed properly by her employer.

One Redditor added, “Does your contract state that they can terminate you for anything that is ‘just cause’? I know someone who got terminated immediately with no notice period after they informed their boss that they were resigning.”

Another commented, “Are you under probation? SG is an ‘at will’ employment. In some places, it’s just a one-day notice if you are under probation. 

Replying ‘good job’ is not a performance review and will not be considered. It’s not a wrongful termination but a question of how much notice in lieu should be paid out.”

Dismissal procedures

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM), an employer can terminate an employee without notice if they compensate the employee with the salary they would have earned during the notice period.

In wrongful dismissal cases, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) explains that an employer can dismiss an employee for poor performance if they fail to meet the required job standards.

However, for the dismissal to be justified, the employer must follow proper procedures.

If an employer fires an employee without providing notice or fails to substantiate their reasons for dismissal, such as not having performance reviews or other supporting documentation, the dismissal could be considered wrongful.

Employees who believe they were unfairly dismissed or feel that the correct procedures were not followed can challenge the dismissal by filing a claim with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) within one month from their last day of employment.

Read also: “I am left unemployed now” — SG worker gets fired by her boss for posting on Instagram about her trip instead of work while she was on leave

Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)