You will be able to check the variable pay on your payslip against your contract and the hours you worked.
Most of a payslip stays the same each month. You only need to check your basic salary, a fixed allowance and the CPF on them once. The lines that change from month to month are where errors slip in, because a different number can be the wrong different number without anyone noticing. There are four variable items to know how to check: overtime, allowances, bonuses and unpaid leave.
Take Priya (an invented example). Her usual payslip shows basic salary, a fixed allowance, CPF, a small CDAC line and net pay, and it looks the same in most months. In May she worked two weekend events and claimed taxi fares. Her net pay changed, and she couldn't easily tell whether it was right. In June she took two days of unpaid leave for a family trip. Her net pay changed again, and again she couldn't easily tell whether it was right.
The Employment Act's overtime rules do not cover everyone. Whether they apply to you depends on your type of work and your salary level. MOM's website explains who is covered, the minimum overtime rate, the formula for the hourly rate and the limits on overtime hours. Check your own job and salary against that guidance first.
If you are covered, your overtime pay must meet those rules. If you are not covered, your contract or company policy decides overtime. It may be paid, given as time off, or not given at all. In both cases the payslip should show the overtime hours as well as the overtime pay, as lesson 1.2 showed. Check the hours against your own record as well as checking the amount. If you keep no record, start one now. A phone note with the date and hours is enough.
Priya checked MOM's guidance against her job and salary and found she was outside the Employment Act overtime rules, so her contract decides her overtime. Her contract pays weekend event work at S$25 an hour (the employer's figure, an example). She worked two eight-hour days, which is 16 hours, so her overtime should be 16 hours x S$25 = S$400.
An allowance and a reimbursement can look alike on a payslip, but they are treated differently. A fixed allowance is a regular payment such as a monthly transport or phone allowance. It is part of your pay and usually counts as ordinary wages for CPF, so CPF should be calculated on it. A reimbursement repays money you spent on the company's behalf. It is not pay for work, so it generally does not attract CPF. It may appear on the payslip as an addition, or it may be paid separately through an expense claim.
When a new line appears, ask whether it is an allowance or a reimbursement. The CPF Board's website explains how different payments are treated. If an allowance is treated as a reimbursement, or a reimbursement as an allowance, the CPF figure will be wrong.
Priya's taxi fares between event venues are a reimbursement, so they generally do not attract CPF. Her S$200 allowance (an example figure) is pay, which is why you included it when you recalculated her CPF in lesson 1.3.
A bonus appears in the month it is paid, whatever month or year it was earned in. A year-end bonus paid in March appears on the March payslip. If your contract has a thirteenth-month payment, also called the annual wage supplement, it also appears in the month it is paid.
For CPF, bonuses count as additional wages and are treated separately from ordinary wages, under the separate yearly limit introduced in lesson 1.3. CPF on a bonus goes to the month the bonus is due and payable, which is not always the month it is actually paid. For example, if a bonus was payable in an earlier month but was only paid later because of an oversight, the CPF contribution should be made for the earlier month. The CPF Board's website explains how the contribution month is set. This means the CPF line usually jumps in a bonus month, and that is expected. In a bonus month, check two things: that the bonus amount matches what you were told, and that CPF was calculated on it as an additional wage for the month it was due and payable. Keep the letter or email that told you the bonus amount, because without it you have nothing to check the payslip against.
For unpaid leave, also called no-pay days, the employer deducts pay for those days. There is no single method for working out the deduction, and none of the possible methods is automatically wrong. The choice of method can still make a real difference in money.
Priya's basic salary is S$3,400 a month, so her basic plus allowance is S$3,400 + S$200 = S$3,600. She took 2 days of unpaid leave in June, a month with 21 working days. Depending on the method, her deduction could be:
basic salary divided by working days: S$3,400 x 2 / 21 = about S$323.81 allowance also pro-rated, by working days: S$3,600 x 2 / 21 = about S$342.86 calendar days using a 30-day month, basic salary only: 2 days cost about S$226.67
To check your own deduction, first find out which method your employer uses. MOM's website gives a formula for salary in an incomplete month, and your contract or employee handbook may set out the employer's own method. Then check that the payslip follows that method. If the payslip does not show how the figure was reached, ask.
In an unusual month, comparing net pay with last month is not enough. Rebuild the payslip from your own records instead. Gather your contract basic salary, each allowance, your hours, any bonus letter and your leave record. From these, work out gross pay, then CPF on the right wages, then the other deductions, and finally net pay.
For Priya's May, the rebuild starts from S$3,400 basic, S$200 allowance and S$400 overtime. The taxi claim is treated as a reimbursement, and CPF is calculated on her wages only.
Your turn comes next. Scroll back through your own payslips and choose the month that looks least like the others, then find the timesheet, leave record or letter that explains it.
Pick a month with overtime, leave or a bonus. Rebuild the payslip figures from your timesheet and contract, and write down any difference.
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