A safe, fair workplace, documented properly for the organisation's protection and reputation.

Why do you need an anti-harassment and bullying policy? The Protection from Harassment Act 2014 does not require employers to have a policy, but it gives victims criminal and civil remedies, and the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment sets out what employers are expected to do. An employer with no policy that ignored complaints faces constructive dismissal claims. Once the Workplace Fairness Act is in force, harassment-related grievances will also fall within the statutory grievance process.

• Policy
• Reporting channels
• Investigation protocol

Why do you need a WSH manual? The Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 requires employers to take reasonably practicable measures for workers' safety and health, and risk assessments are mandatory in every workplace, offices included, under the WSH (Risk Management) Regulations. After an incident, the absence of a written risk assessment is very hard to defend. We cover the legal framework and coordinate with WSH professionals on the technical content.

The obligations here are a mix of statute and tripartite expectation, and the mix is shifting towards statute. The Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests have applied since 1 December 2024: employers must receive and properly consider formal FWA requests and decide them on reasonable business grounds within the prescribed timeline. The Protection from Harassment Act 2014 gives victims criminal and civil remedies, including for conduct at work, and the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment (2015, still the current version) sets out what is expected of employers: a policy, reporting channels and a fair investigation process. An employer that mishandles an FWA request invites an MOM complaint and scrutiny of its wider practices. An employer that ignored harassment complaints faces constructive dismissal claims and POHA proceedings in which its inaction is exhibited.

The Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 is harder-edged. Employers and occupiers must take reasonably practicable measures for workers' safety and health, and risk assessments are mandatory in every workplace under the WSH (Risk Management) Regulations (reg 3), offices included. WSH breaches carry the heaviest penalties in the employment sphere: fines of up to S$500,000 for a corporate offender on first conviction and up to S$200,000 or 2 years' imprisonment or both for individuals (WSH Act section 50), with more for repeat offenders, plus stop-work orders. After an incident, the absence of a written risk assessment is close to indefensible.

In each of these areas the employer is judged on what it can prove it did. A policy that exists, was communicated and was followed gives the employer a defence; without it there is only an explanation. On the horizon: with the Workplace Fairness Act 2025 and its dispute-resolution companion intended to take effect in 2027, harassment and grievance processes drafted today must work under the current tripartite framework and slot into the statutory regime when it commences. The detail will come in subsidiary legislation.

We draft these policies as employment litigators, so they are built around provable process: FWA decision templates that record the reasonable business grounds, harassment reporting channels that give complainants a route around their own manager, and investigation protocols that will withstand later scrutiny by MOM, a tribunal or a court. We have seen loosely drafted processes come apart under cross-examination, and we draft to close those seams.

A template cannot tell you how your FWA policy interacts with your employment contracts, or whether your harassment process satisfies the Tripartite Advisory and the coming WFA grievance regime at the same time. We advise on the legal framework and coordinate with WSH professionals on the technical content, so the manual holds together.

If a complaint, an incident or an MOM inspection follows, our advice is privileged, we can run the investigation, and we can act for you in any proceedings. We also keep the suite current. The tripartite instruments in this area change more often than statutes do, and an annual review catches what a static document misses.