Asia: Retirement-related obligations

The current minimum statutory retirement age is 63 years. There is a prohibition against terminating an eligible employee's employment on the ground of age before the employee reaches 63 years.

An employee would be considered to be eligible for the protection against dismissal on the grounds of age if they, amongst others, are a Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident and have commenced their employment before age 55.

Beyond that, there are also obligations to re-employ eligible employees up to the age of 68 (see below).

An employee would be considered to be eligible for re-employment if they, amongst others, are a Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident, have been in employment with the employer for at least 2 years before turning 63 if they have been hired at age 55 and above, have satisfactory work performance, as assessed by the employer and are medically fit to continue working.

The current statutory retirement age is 50 or 55 years (for employees in technical or managerial position) for women and 60 years for men.

Employment ends upon an employee reaching the statutory retirement age.

The current minimum statutory retirement age is 60 years. Employers may stipulate a retirement age (usually in the work rules) of 60 or higher.

However, to ensure stable employment up to the age of 65, employers who stipulate a retirement age are required to increase their retirement age up to 65, abolish their established retirement age or re-employ employees up to the age of 65.

Additionally, employers who have set the retirement age at 65 or more but less than 70 or who have introduced a system of continuous employment up to the age of 65 (excluding a system of continued employment until they are 70 or more), are required to make best efforts to take one of the following measures:

1. increase their retirement age to 70;
2. abolish the retirement age;
3. establish a continuous employment system up to the age of 70;
4. establish a continuous contracting system (ie individuals are engaged on service contracts rather than employment contracts) up to the age of 70; or
5. implement social contribution projects by the employer or by an organisation entrusted or funded by the employer up to the age of 70.

However, for 4 and 5, the employer will have to obtain the consent of the labour union who has more than half of the employees in the workplace as members (or if there is no such labour union, then with an employee representative who represents the majority of employees in a workplace).

The current minimum statutory retirement age is 60 years, but there are proposals to increase it. Employers may stipulate a retirement age (usually in the work rules) of 60 or higher.

An employee's employment may be terminated on the grounds of retirement once they hit 60 if a retirement age of 60 is stipulated.

The current minimum statutory retirement age is 65 years. Employers may stipulate a retirement age (usually in the work rules) of 65 or higher.

An employee's employment may be terminated on the grounds of retirement once they hit 65 if a retirement age of 65 is stipulated.

However, an employer may request to reduce the minimum statutory mandatory retirement age in certain circumstances.

Employers must offer re-employment to eligible employees who turn 63, up to the age of 68.

If an employee is eligible for re-employment but the employer is unable to offer them a position, then an employer must:

• transfer the re-employment obligation to another employer with the employee's agreement; or
• offer the employee a one-off Employment Assistance Payment (EAP), this is a one-off payment equivalent to 3.5 months' salary, subject to a minimum of S$6,250 and a maximum of S$ 14,750.