# Singapore EP Pass cancellation while switching job



## seekingseeker

I am currently working for a company in singapore and serving my 1 month notice period of which i served 7 days.I have got another job and my EP got approved.I have not told the current employer that I have another offer.I told them that I have a family problem which is really true but not that urgent as I have told them.

Since,I cannot contribute much to the company due to my personal problems and the job . Now I feel that I want to leave the company before notice period and go back to my home country and come back to join the new job. I am going to tell the current employer that I have got another job and want to leave the job.

But I am worried that the current employer will put bad comments while cancelling the EP pass. 

I have two questions here.
1.Can the current Employer put bad comments just like that without evidence.? I have contributed to the company in short time (3 months)and I feel I cannot contribute hereafter.

2.How can I leave breaking my notice period of 1 month without paying any penalty?. Can I talk to the boss explaining frankly my situation.?


----------



## lorgnette

*notice*



seekingseeker said:


> I am currently working for a company in singapore and serving my 1 month notice period of which i served 7 days.I have got another job and my EP got approved.I have not told the current employer that I have another offer.I told them that I have a family problem which is really true but not that urgent as I have told them.
> 
> Since,I cannot contribute much to the company due to my personal problems and the job . Now I feel that I want to leave the company before notice period and go back to my home country and come back to join the new job. I am going to tell the current employer that I have got another job and want to leave the job.
> 
> But I am worried that the current employer will put bad comments while cancelling the EP pass.
> 
> I have two questions here.
> 1.Can the current Employer put bad comments just like that without evidence.? I have contributed to the company in short time (3 months)and I feel I cannot contribute hereafter.
> 
> 2.How can I leave breaking my notice period of 1 month without paying any penalty?. Can I talk to the boss explaining frankly my situation.?


1. Yes, probably the current employer will leave bad comments if you are not honest. Best to work out your one month notice and explain the real reason you are leaving over drinks or a meal.

2. Put yourself in the current empl's shoes. If you leave earlier than 1 month, you leave him without someone new to transfer duties/schedule. When he finds that you have another position instead of going home--- Singapore is small, and the field you are in---likely the bosses know each other-you will be digging a hole you cannot jump out. To be truthful, 1. you will not be able to ask him to be your reference 2. in whatever industry and profession you are , try to leave a clean positive record esp in Singapore (as it can be smaller than you expect when bosses compare notes)

You have a new EP plus a valid current EP? Do you have two MOM approved EP stamps on pp?


----------



## anneteoh

*I would have believed... but it's all about the upper hand.*



lorgnette said:


> 1. Yes, probably the current employer will leave bad comments if you are not honest. Best to work out your one month notice and explain the real reason you are leaving over drinks or a meal.
> 
> 2. Put yourself in the current empl's shoes. If you leave earlier than 1 month, you leave him without someone new to transfer duties/schedule. When he finds that you have another position instead of going home--- Singapore is small, and the field you are in---likely the bosses know each other-you will be digging a hole you cannot jump out. To be truthful, 1. you will not be able to ask him to be your reference 2. in whatever industry and profession you are , try to leave a clean positive record esp in Singapore (as it can be smaller than you expect when bosses compare notes)
> 
> You have a new EP plus a valid current EP? Do you have two MOM approved EP stamps on pp?



I believe there is over reliance on permanence as a concept in everything, and especially in employment in Sg. I understand that long termism serves the employer's interest and it seems the employee's own interest is in conflict with that of the employer's as suggested in this thread. It's best to be perfectly honest is what I would say. Anyway, it's a legality that either party gives a month's notice; and that , I agree, is an ethical issue for both sides. No one likes to be left high and dry, wherever it is in the world. if you're prepared to break your contract, you should be prepared to take the consequences.

But what I am more concerned about is that involving teachers of past retirement age who can only be given temporary contracts but are told to 'lie' to the students that they are permanently there for the sake of providing stability to the institution. I would have believed in transparency and permanence if I had not seen how the upper hand can so fiddle with the terms of employment too. Obviously the higher ups like MOM or MOE can only run the system like a machinery; hence missing out on the human morality issues which is never always clear cut.

The conclusion is there is really no such thing as a perfect world but there is such a perfect moral as honesty and humanity. There's never such a thing as one size fits all.


----------

