Singapore
Notice periods in Singapore
What the Ministry of Manpower says about resigning: the notice your contract sets, the statutory table that applies when it sets none, how the days are counted — the count includes the day you hand it in — and what salary in lieu of notice means when you are the one paying it.
This page describes Singapore and is drawn from Ministry of Manpower guidance. It is not legal advice, and it does not describe your own contract — which, where it sets a notice period, is the document that decides the length.
General information only. Employment rules depend on your contract and location.
Last verified: August 20, 2026
Who this covers
This is an employee resigning: the notice you give, not the notice an employer gives you. MOM states that where the contract sets a notice period it must be the same in both directions, but what follows from not serving it is not symmetrical, and this page follows the employee’s side of that. Some points below apply specifically to employees covered by the Employment Act; where the source says so, the point says so too.
What MOM guidance says
Each point below is stated by the source linked against it, checked on the date shown in the source list at the foot of this page.
Where the employment contract specifies a notice period, an employee who resigns must either serve it or pay salary in lieu of notice to the employer.
Salary in lieu of notice is the money equivalent of what would have been earned during the required notice period.
The length of the notice period must be the same for the employer and the employee, and as agreed in the employment contract.
Where the contract does not specify a notice period, the required notice depends on length of service: one day under 26 weeks; one week from 26 weeks to under two years; two weeks from two years to under five; and four weeks at five years or more.
The notice period includes the day on which notice is given, and includes public holidays, rest days and non-working days.
This is the opposite convention to the one UK guidance describes, where the period usually starts the day after notice is handed in.
Any notice of termination, by either the employee or the employer, must be in writing — a termination letter or an email.
MOM also advises asking the employer to acknowledge the notice, by signing the letter or replying to the email, to prevent a later dispute.
The notice period can be waived by mutual consent between the employee and the employer, and that agreement should be in writing.
For an employee covered by the Employment Act, paid or unpaid sick leave taken during the notice period is treated as part of the notice period, and the employer cannot extend the notice or claim short notice for it.
Either the employee or the employer may end the contract without waiting for the notice period to end, by paying the other party salary in lieu of notice.
Where the terms of employment have been breached, either party may terminate the employment without notice, and the party that breached the terms must pay salary in lieu of notice.
An employee can leave without notice if the employer fails to pay their salary within seven days of it being due.
MOM advises checking with the employer why payment has not been made before deciding to leave.
A contract may require an employee to pay monetary compensation in addition to notice pay for ending it before a specified period; such terms are not covered by the Employment Act and are based on the contract.
MOM suggests seeking legal advice on obligations of this kind and settling disputes through civil court proceedings.
The count includes the day you resign
This is the rule most likely to catch out someone who has read about notice periods somewhere else. MOM states that the notice period includes the day notice is given, and includes public holidays, rest days and non-working days. UK guidance describes the opposite convention, with the count starting the day after. If you are using the calculator on this site for a Singapore contract, set the count to begin on the same day.
Salary in lieu runs in both directions
The mechanism that lets an employer release you early is the same one that lets you leave early: whoever ends the contract without waiting for the notice period to run pays the other party the salary that would have been earned during it. That turns “can I just go?” into a costed question you can work out in advance, rather than an argument you have after the fact.
A bond is a separate question from notice
MOM states that a contract may require monetary compensation in addition to notice pay for ending it before a specified period, that such terms are not covered by the Employment Act, and that they are governed by the contract with civil proceedings as the route for a dispute. If yours has a training bond or a minimum-service clause, it sits outside everything else on this page.
What this page deliberately does not answer
Each of these has a real answer that this page does not hold a source for. Rather than infer one, it says so:
- Whether a particular training bond or minimum-service clause is enforceable, which turns on the wording and is a civil matter.
- How salary in lieu of notice is taxed.
- Whether you are covered by the Employment Act in your particular role.
- What happens to a work pass when employment ends, which is a separate process with its own timing.
- Anything about resigning in response to your employer’s conduct.
MOM publishes guidance on each of these on its own website, and the pages this one is built from are linked in the source list above. Either is a better answer than a confident paragraph from a website.
Sources
Every claim on this page links to the government source it came from, and the date it was last checked.
Run your own numbers
- Project your last working day — enter the notice from your contract, and set the count to start on the same day you resign, as MOM guidance describes.
- What unserved notice would cost — how salary in lieu of notice is worked out, and what to check before offering it.
- Can I quit without notice? — six questions covering your contract, your timing, and your money.