Retirement and Re-employment Act 1993

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“agreed date” means a date specified for the purposes of section 7C(2)(a) in a consent form mentioned in section 7C(7);

“approved mediator” and “claim referral certificate” have the meanings given by section 2(1) of the Employment Claims Act 2016;

“collective agreement” has the meaning given by the Industrial Relations Act 1960;

“Commissioner” means the Commissioner for Labour appointed under section 3(1) of the Employment Act 1968;

“contract of service” means any agreement, whether in writing or oral, express or implied, whereby one person agrees to employ another as an employee and that other agrees to serve his or her employer as an employee;

“eligible employee” means an employee who satisfies the re‑employment eligibility criteria set out in section 7(1);

“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer;

“employer” means a person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes

“employment assistance payment” means such sum of money which is payable by an employer to an eligible employee under section 7C(1);

“Employment Claims Tribunal” means an Employment Claims Tribunal constituted under section 4 of the State Courts Act 1970;

“investigating officer” means any person appointed as an investigating officer under section 3;

“mediation request” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Employment Claims Act 2016;

“prescribed minimum retirement age” means such other minimum retirement age as may be prescribed by the Minister under section 4(1);

“re-employment” means the employment of an employee by the same employer on or after the date the employee attains the specified age applicable to that employee;

“re‑employment contract” means a contract of service entered into between an eligible employee and an employer to re‑employ the eligible employee for the purposes of section 7A(1) or (3)(a)(i);

“re‑employment obligations” means an employer’s obligations to re‑employ an eligible employee in accordance with section 7A, failing which, to offer the eligible employee employment assistance payment in accordance with section 7C(1)(a);

“salary” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Employment Act 1968;

“specified age” means

“tripartite guidelines” means the guidelines relating to re‑employment issued by the Minister under section 11B.

For the purposes of this Act, an employee is treated as dismissed by his or her employer if

In this Act, a person is regarded as attaining or having attained N years of age (where N is a positive integer) or other higher age on or after the Nth or other anniversary (as the case may be) of the date of his or her birth.

The Commissioner for Labour is the officer in charge of the general administration of this Act.

Any Deputy Commissioner for Labour, Principal Assistant Commissioner for Labour or Assistant Commissioner for Labour appointed under the Employment Act 1968 may, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed, perform all duties imposed and exercise all powers conferred on the Commissioner by this Act, and every duty so performed and power so exercised is deemed to have been duly performed and exercised by the Commissioner for the purpose of this Act.

The Minister may appoint such number of investigating officers and other officers as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of this Act.

The Minister may make rules for the conduct of the duties of officers under this Act.

Despite anything in any other written law, contract of service or collective agreement, the retirement age of an employee is at least 62 years or such other age, up to 67 years, as may be prescribed by the Minister.

An employer must not dismiss on the ground of age any employee who is below 62 years of age or the prescribed minimum retirement age.

An employer who contravenes subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

For the purposes of this Act, an employee is eligible for re‑employment in accordance with section 7A if

For the purpose of subsection (1)(b)(ii), an employee is presumed to be medically fit to continue working, unless the employer of the employee proves, on a balance of probabilities, that the employee is not medically fit.

Where an employer does not intend to re‑employ an employee because the employee does not meet the criteria in subsection (1)(b), then as far as it is reasonably practicable, the employer must give the employee written notice of that intention within a reasonable period before terminating the employee’s employment.

Subject to section 7C, an employer must, before an employee of the employer (being an eligible employee) attains the specified age, offer re‑employment to that employee and the employer’s obligation to re‑employ that employee begins from the time that employee attains the specified age, until that employee attains the age of 65 years or such other age, up to 67 years, as may be prescribed by the Minister.

Where

Where subsection (2) applies, the employer referred to in that subsection

For the purposes of re-employment under subsection (1) or (3)(a)(i), a re‑employment contract must be entered into by the employee and his or her employer, in which the job scope and the terms and conditions may vary from those in the previous contract of service between them.

Any variation referred to in subsection (4) must be based on reasonable factors such as, but not limited to, the employee’s productivity, performance, duties and responsibilities, and the wage system such as the seniority system applicable to the employee.

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties to a re‑employment contract, the period of employment stipulated in the contract must not be less than one year at any one time.

Despite subsection (6), where the period between

[Deleted by Act 5 of 2017]

Despite any of the provisions of this Act, an eligible employee may retire or be retired, if he or she does not wish to be employed by his or her employer on or after the date the employee attains the specified age.

An eligible employee who intends to retire must, insofar as is reasonably practicable, give written notice to his or her employer, within a reasonable period before the employee retires, stating his or her intention to do so.

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties to a contract of service, and subject to subsections (2) and (3), when a re‑employment contract is entered into between an employer and an employee of the employer pursuant to section 7A(4), then for the purposes of determining any right, privilege, obligation or liability to be acquired, accrued or incurred by the employee under the employee’s re‑employment contract, any period for which the employee has served under his or her employer under the previous contract of service before the employee commences his or her service under the re‑employment contract is disregarded.

Any period for which an employee has served under his or her employer before the employee commences his or her service under the re‑employment contract entered into pursuant to section 7A(4) is to be reckoned for the purposes of

An employee’s continuity of employment under re‑employment is not broken if his or her employer re‑employs or renews the re‑employment of the employee in accordance with section 7A(4).

Section 7A does not apply if an employer (called in this section E1) is unable to re‑employ an eligible employee in accordance with section 7A because E1 is unable to find a vacancy in E1’s establishment that is suitable for the eligible employee, despite making reasonable attempts to do so in accordance with the tripartite guidelines, and

Subject to any modifications as may be prescribed, where subsection (1)(b) applies

Despite subsection (1)(a), an employer is not required to offer any employment assistance payment to an eligible employee who informs his or her employer of the employee’s decision not to continue to be employed by that employer on or after the date the employee attains the specified age.

Subject to subsection (5), the employment assistance payment is

In determining the amount of employment assistance payment to be paid under this section, an employer must take into account the tripartite guidelines.

Without affecting section 7B, where E2 enters into a contract of service with an eligible employee in lieu of E1, any period for which the eligible employee has served under E1 before he or she commences his or her service with E2 is to be reckoned only for the purposes of

A consent form signified by E1, E2 and the eligible employee in the prescribed form and manner is prima facie proof of the matters mentioned in subsection (1)(b).

To avoid doubt, the references to an eligible employee’s employer in Parts 4 and 5 include references to E2, where applicable.

Where any employee below the specified age considers that he or she has been unlawfully dismissed on the ground of age, he or she may, within one month of the dismissal, make representations in writing to the Minister to be reinstated in his or her former employment.

The Minister may, before making a decision on any such representations, direct the Commissioner in writing to inquire and report whether in the Commissioner’s opinion the employee has been unlawfully dismissed on the ground of age.

If, after considering any report made by the Commissioner under subsection (2), the Minister is satisfied that the employee has been unlawfully dismissed by his or her employer on the ground of age, the Minister may, despite any rule of law or agreement to the contrary

In determining the amount of compensation to be awarded under subsection (3), the Minister must, in particular, have regard to

The decision of the Minister on any representation made under this section is final.

Any direction of the Minister under subsection (3) operates as a bar to any action for damages by the employee in any court in respect of the unlawful dismissal on the ground of age.

An employer who fails to comply with the direction of the Minister under subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Where any amount to be paid by an employer under subsection (3) is not paid in accordance with the direction of the Minister and the employer has been convicted of an offence under subsection (7), the amount or so much thereof as remains unpaid is recoverable by the court as if it were a fine and the amount so recovered is to be paid to the employee entitled to payment under the direction of the Minister.

The Minister may, by writing under the hand of the Minister, delegate all or any of the Minister’s powers under this section (except this power of delegation) to any public officer.

A delegation under subsection (9) is revocable at will and no delegation prevents the exercise of any power by the Minister.

A power so delegated, when exercised by the delegate, is for the purposes of this section deemed to have been exercised by the Minister.

An employee who has a re-employment dispute with his or her employer which relates to any matter referred to in subsection (4)(a) or (b) must, before making any representation to the Minister under section 8B, first notify the Commissioner in writing of the re‑employment dispute no later than one month after the last day of the employee’s employment with his or her employer.

An employee (being an employee who attains the specified age on or after 1 January 2012) who considers that he or she has been dismissed without just cause or excuse by his or her employer on or after the date the employee attains the specified age must, before making any representation to the Minister under section 8B, first notify the Commissioner in writing of the dismissal no later than one month after the last day of the employee’s employment with the employer.

An employee who has a re‑employment dispute with his or her employer which relates to any matter referred to in subsection (4)(c) or (d) must, before lodging a claim against the employer under section 13 of the Employment Claims Act 2016, submit to the Commissioner, under section 3(1) of that Act, not later than 6 months after the last day of the employee’s employment with the employer, a mediation request for the mediation under Part 2 of that Act of the re‑employment dispute.

For the purposes of this Part, a re‑employment dispute means a dispute over any of the following matters:

Upon receipt of the notice referred to in subsection (1) or (2), the Commissioner may consult, or direct an approved mediator to consult, the employer and employee concerned in an endeavour to assist them to reach an agreement through conciliation.

An employee who has a re‑employment dispute with his or her employer which relates to any matter referred to in section 8A(4)(a) or (b), or an employee (being an employee who attains the specified age on or after 1 January 2012) who considers that he or she has been dismissed without just cause or excuse by his or her employer on or after the date the employee attains the specified age, may at any time after any conciliation conducted pursuant to section 8A(5), make representations in writing to the Minister to be re‑employed.

Any representations to the Minister under subsection (1) must be made no later than one month after the conclusion of any conciliation conducted pursuant to section 8A(5).

Where an employee who is dismissed by his or her employer makes any representations to the Minister in accordance with subsection (1) to be re‑employed, such representations made operate as a bar to

Where an employee who is dismissed by his or her employer makes any representations to the Minister in respect of that dismissal under section 35(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1960, such representations made operate as a bar to

The Minister may, before making a decision on any such representations made under subsection (1), direct the Commissioner to inquire and report whether in the Commissioner’s opinion the employee has been unreasonably denied of re‑employment by his or her employer, or has been dismissed without just cause or excuse by his or her employer, as the case may be.

If, after considering any report made by the Commissioner under subsection (5), the Minister is satisfied that the employee has been unreasonably denied of re‑employment by his or her employer, or dismissed by his or her employer without just cause or excuse (as the case may be) the Minister may, despite any rule of law or agreement to the contrary

Despite any other provision in this section, the Minister may allow the employee to submit to the Commissioner, under section 3(1) of the Employment Claims Act 2016, a mediation request for the mediation under Part 2 of that Act of the re‑employment dispute and, if a claim referral certificate is issued in respect of that dispute, to lodge a claim for employment assistance payment under section 13 of that Act, where the Minister

Where subsection (7) applies, the employee must submit the mediation request to the Commissioner within such time as the Minister may determine.

Section 8C(3) applies in relation to any claim lodged by an employee pursuant to subsection (7).

In determining the amount of compensation to be awarded under subsection (6), the Minister may, in particular, have regard to

The decision of the Minister on any representation made under this section is final.

Any direction of the Minister under subsection (6) operates as a bar to any action for damages by the employee in any court in respect of the unreasonable denial of re‑employment, or the dismissal of the employee without just cause or excuse, as the case may be.

An employer who fails to comply with the direction of the Minister under subsection (6) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Where any amount of compensation to be paid by an employer under subsection (6) is not paid in accordance with the direction of the Minister and the employer has been convicted of an offence under subsection (13), the amount or part thereof that remains unpaid is recoverable by the court as if it were a fine and the amount so recovered is to be paid to the employee entitled to payment under the direction of the Minister.

The Minister may, by writing under the hand of the Minister, delegate all or any of the Minister’s powers under this section (except the power of delegation conferred by this section) to any public officer.

A delegation under subsection (15) is revocable at will and no delegation prevents the exercise of any power under this section by the Minister.

A power so delegated, when exercised by the delegate, is for the purposes of this section deemed to have been exercised by the Minister.

An employee who has a re‑employment dispute with his or her employer which relates to any matter referred to in section 8A(4)(c) or (d) may, if a claim referral certificate is issued in respect of that dispute, lodge a claim for employment assistance payment with an Employment Claims Tribunal under section 13 of the Employment Claims Act 2016.

Where an employee who is dismissed by his or her employer lodges any claim with an Employment Claims Tribunal in relation to the matter referred to in section 8A(4)(d), such claim operates as a bar to

In making a decision on any claim in relation to the employment assistance payment, the Employment Claims Tribunal

The Commissioner or any investigating officer has, for the purposes of this Act, power to do all or any of the following:

Any person who hinders or obstructs an investigating officer in the exercise of the power under this section or makes to an investigating officer exercising the power under this section a statement either orally or in writing which is false in any material particular shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Whenever

Any person who in any way wilfully obstructs the service of or obedience to such summons, and any person summoned who neglects to attend as required in such summons, shall be guilty of an offence.

The Commissioner or investigating officer has the power to report any failure by such person to attend as required by the summons under subsection (2) to a Magistrate, who may thereupon issue a warrant to secure the attendance of that person as required by the summons.

An employer or other person who in any way obstructs any employee in appearing before the Commissioner pursuant to any summons issued under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

A person who wilfully obstructs or impedes any entry, inquiry or investigation made under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be guilty of an offence.

An investigating officer, with the approval of the Commissioner, may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:

On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.

The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences that may be compounded.

The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, exempt with or without conditions any person or class of persons from all or any of the provisions of this Act.

The Minister may at any time revoke any such exemption, vary or revoke any existing conditions or impose new conditions.

The Minister may make regulations for any purpose for which regulations may be made under this Act and for prescribing anything which may be prescribed and generally for the purpose of carrying this Act into effect.

Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations with respect to any of the following matters or for any of the following purposes: