Written by
Bryan Sim, Business Development at AnjouHealth
An OHS programme developer at AnjouHealth focused on designing workplace health and safety initiatives that help organisations create safer, healthier, and more engaged environments. He works on translating ergonomic assessments and workplace risk insights into practical initiatives such as safety campaigns, wellbeing programmes, and workplace interventions that are impactful, sustainable, and aligned with operational needs.
Quick Summary
Singapore’s Workplace Fairness Act (WFA) makes mental health a protected characteristic for the first time in Singapore employment law, and separately requires employers with 25 or more staff to have a written grievance handling process. The Act is expected to take effect by the end of 2027, not 2026, a common misconception worth correcting early.
This matters for how employers manage everyday workplace stress: a stress or burnout complaint now needs to run through the same documented inquire-review-inform process as any other formal grievance, not stay an informal conversation between an employee and their manager.
In This Blog
- What the Workplace Fairness Act Actually Says About Mental Health
- When Does This Take Effect?
- The Part That Changes Daily Operations: Mandatory Grievance Handling
- Why This Is a Compliance Issue, Not Just a Culture One
- What Employers Should Do Before the Act Takes Effect
- Frequently Asked Questions (Workplace Fairness Act Singapore)
What the Workplace Fairness Act Actually Says About Mental Health
The WFA was passed by Parliament on 8 January 2025, with a companion Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill passed on 4 November 2025 to set up how claims will actually be heard (MOM press release). Together, they introduce Singapore’s first legally binding anti-discrimination framework for employment, but they do not replace the existing Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP). TGFEP continues to apply alongside the WFA, covering characteristics the Act doesn’t protect, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and criminal record (TAFEP).
Mental health conditions, any mental disorder diagnosed by a registered medical practitioner, are a protected characteristic under the Act. Employers will not be permitted to:
- Refuse to hire someone because of a mental health diagnosis
- Deny promotions or development opportunities on those grounds
- Make working conditions unreasonably difficult because of the condition
- Share an employee’s mental health information without consent
Protected characteristics under the Act, including mental health, account for more than 95% of the discrimination complaints currently received by MOM and TAFEP (MOM Parliamentary reply on Workplace Fairness Legislation). See our Workplace Safety Responsibilities Singapore guide for how this sits alongside existing WSH duties.
When Does This Take Effect?
The WFA is expected to come into force by the end of 2027, not 2026 (MOM Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill factsheet). That runway is exactly the window employers have to move from ad hoc wellbeing initiatives to a documented, defensible process, rather than scrambling once the law is live.
The Part That Changes Daily Operations: Mandatory Grievance Handling
Employers with 25 or more employees must have a written grievance-handling process in place, separate from the anti-discrimination provisions. Under this process, the employer commits to:
The 3-Step Process
- Inquire into each grievance an employee raises
- Review the grievance
- Inform the employee of the outcome
This obligation applies regardless of whether the grievance is about discrimination specifically, a stress-related or psychosocial complaint now needs to run through the same documented channel as any other formal grievance (MOM Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill factsheet). The 25-employee threshold will be reviewed after five years, with the possibility of extending it to smaller businesses.
Why This Is a Compliance Issue, Not Just a Culture One
Three things are converging at once for Singapore employers:
- Legal exposure: mental health discrimination complaints will be actionable, not just guideline breaches.
- Process exposure: grievance handling becomes a mandatory, auditable requirement for companies with 25+ staff, covering stress and burnout complaints along with everything else.
- Existing WSH duty: this sits on top of, not instead of, an employer’s existing psychosocial risk obligations under Singapore’s WSH framework.
Treating psychosocial risk purely as an employee wellness perk, with no documented process behind it, now leaves a gap on both fronts. Our guide to conducting risk assessments in Singapore explains how psychosocial risk assessments fit into a broader WSH programme.
What Employers Should Do Before the Act Takes Effect
- Documenting a grievance-handling process now, even with fewer than 25 employees today, is easier to build before it’s mandatory than to retrofit under deadline pressure.
- Train managers to recognise and respond to psychosocial risk and stress-related complaints without informally screening out the people raising them.
- Review current WSH and HR psychosocial risk assessments so they explicitly account for the new mental-health protected characteristic, not just physical hazards.
- Keep records of how stress and burnout complaints are raised, reviewed, and resolved.
If your current WSH programme addresses physical risk but treats psychosocial risk as an afterthought, AnjouHealth’s occupational health and safety programmes can help build the structured process the Act is moving toward.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is workplace stress covered under the Workplace Fairness Act?
The Act doesn’t regulate “stress” directly, but it makes mental health conditions a protected characteristic and requires a formal grievance process that stress-related complaints will need to go through.
- When does the Workplace Fairness Act take effect in Singapore?
The WFA is expected to come into force by the end of 2027. The companion Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill was passed on 4 November 2025 to establish how claims will be heard.
- Which employers need a grievance-handling process under the WFA?
Employers with 25 or more employees will be required to have a written grievance-handling process. This threshold will be reviewed after five years.
- Does the Workplace Fairness Act replace the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices?
For the characteristics it covers, yes, the WFA replaces the guidelines-based approach with a legally binding framework. The TGFEP continues to apply to characteristics not yet covered by the Act.
- Can an employer ask about an employee’s mental health condition?
The Act restricts how mental health information can be used and shared; employers cannot share it without consent, and cannot use a diagnosis to justify refusing to hire, denying promotion, or making working conditions unreasonably difficult.
- What counts as a mental health condition under the Act?
Any mental disorder diagnosed by a registered medical practitioner.
- What should employers do now, before the Act is enforced?
Start documenting a grievance-handling process, train managers on responding to psychosocial complaints, and update WSH risk assessments to explicitly cover mental health.
Compliance Starts Before Enforcement Does
The runway to end-2027 exists precisely so employers don’t have to build this under deadline pressure.
- A documented process now is far cheaper than a retrofit later.
- Psychosocial risk sits alongside physical risk in a complete WSH programme, not as an afterthought.
- Employers who act early turn a compliance deadline into a genuine head start.
Booking Your Psychosocial Risk Assessment in Singapore?
AnjouHealth is a leading provider of corporate health initiatives and workplace safety programmes across Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, including psychosocial risk assessments built to hold up under the documentation standards the Workplace Fairness Act is introducing.
Our team runs:
- Mental wellness workshops and campaigns
Book your workshops and campaign with our team. We’ll map where your current WSH and HR processes stand against the Act’s requirements and what needs to be closed before 2027.