An employee removed from a client site is still your employee unless the employment relationship has lawfully ended. First clarify the client’s request, secure a safe interim arrangement and review the employment contract. A customer’s demand is not, by itself, a complete dismissal process.
Find out what the customer is actually requiring
Ask whether access is suspended temporarily, a specific assignment must end, or there is an allegation about conduct. Request the factual basis and retain the service contract, complaint, relevant site records and correspondence. Avoid telling payroll that the person has resigned when no resignation exists.
If a safety or access concern requires immediate separation from a site, document that operational step separately from any employment decision. Tell the employee where to report and who will communicate the next instructions. Obtain advice on pay and any proposed suspension rather than assuming removal means unpaid leave.
Read the employment terms alongside the service contract
The customer contract may allow the client to reject deployed personnel. The employment contract addresses the company’s relationship with its worker. Review duties, work location, mobility provisions, hours, remuneration and notice. Our employment contract guide explains the wider employer checklist.
Consider whether another suitable assignment is available and whether it fits the existing terms. MOM states that employment terms cannot be changed without the employee’s consent. Where changes are needed, discuss them and document the agreement rather than imposing a pay cut in a new roster.
Do not substitute the customer’s conclusion for your investigation
If misconduct is alleged, identify the conduct, give the employee an opportunity to respond and obtain advice on the appropriate inquiry and decision. Preserve both supporting and contradictory evidence. Our guide to misconduct dismissal and due inquiry addresses that separate procedure.
For example, a customer says a technician was rude and demands replacement. The employer discovers that the complaint concerns refusal to perform an unsafe task. That needs a factual review, not an automatic record of misconduct copied from the customer’s message.
Prepare the realistic options
- Temporary alternative duties while the facts are reviewed.
- Reassignment within the existing employment terms.
- A mutually agreed change to role or deployment.
- A properly reviewed termination route if continued employment is not feasible.
Availability of an option depends on the contract and facts. Giving notice does not resolve every possible wrongful-dismissal issue. Do not describe a role as redundant simply because one client requests a different person without examining the actual business position.
Keep the final records consistent
Before implementation, reconcile the employee letter, roster, salary instructions, access changes and any work-pass implications. If the worker is a foreign employee, obtain a separate pass and deployment review; a reassignment should not be assumed permissible solely because the employer is unchanged.
Prepare a chronology, contracts, complaint evidence, employee response, proposed options and next salary date for the adviser. Clear interim instructions reduce the chance that a deployment dispute becomes an avoidable absence or salary dispute.
For related company questions, see our employment guides.
Need help with an employee’s removal from a customer site?
If your company, or you as a director or shareholder, is dealing with an employee’s removal from a customer site, contact the Raffles Corporate Services team at [email protected] or on WhatsApp at +65 8501 7133 or +65 9018 0072. We will help you understand the documents and deadlines. Where your matter needs a lawyer, we will refer you to a firm on our panel of Singapore law firms that handles employment contracts, workplace investigations and dismissal disputes. Raffles Corporate Services is a corporate services provider, not a law firm, and this article is general information, not legal advice.
The Raffles Corporate Services Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services