‘My boss terminated me without proper cause’ — Employee claims he was wrongfully terminated over leaked info accusation

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean employee recently claimed on social media that he was wrongfully terminated after being accused of leaking confidential information.

On Monday (June 2), he took to the r/askSingapore Reddit forum to seek advice and share his experience with fellow locals. In his post, he explained that he was recently dismissed from his full-time position because his employer alleged that he had disclosed sensitive company information to other departments or colleagues. However, he firmly denied these accusations, stating that they were completely “untrue.”

He also mentioned that his contract puts him at a disadvantage. “I’m on the losing end as my employment contract only provided for 1 month of notice period, so my salary in lieu of notice will only be 1 month’s wages to tide me over the next few weeks and months until I can secure a new job.”

Seeking help from those who may have gone through similar experiences, he asked: “What can I do apart from filing a complaint report with TADM? As I understand, these investigations can take up to weeks and months.”

“Employers can terminate you for no reason at all…”

In the Reddit discussion that followed, one user commented, “Nothing. The employer can terminate their employment contract with you for any reason outside the protected classes (e.g, gender, race, pregnancy).”

Another agreed, saying, “There is no such thing as termination WITH a proper cause. Employers can terminate you for no reason at all. They just need to either give you a notification period or pay you the amount so you can leave immediately.”

However, some Redditors challenged this view and suggested the employee might have grounds to file a complaint. One pointed out, “If they did not tell you what the breach was, or carried out any investigations to ascertain the breach, then you may have a claim for wrongful dismissal.”

Wrongful dismissal

According to the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), wrongful dismissal refers to cases where an employee is let go without “just or sufficient cause.” Examples include dismissal due to discrimination, being unfairly deprived of benefits, or being punished for exercising employment rights. It also covers situations where an employee is forced to resign against their will.

In contrast, dismissals due to misconduct, poor performance, or redundancy are generally not considered wrongful, as long as the contractual notice is served or payment is made in lieu thereof.

TADM also states that if an employee disputes the reasons given for their dismissal, they must be able to support their claim with “anecdotal or documentary” evidence.

Read also: Singapore jobseeker plans to pause job hunt after 6 months of rejections

Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)