Cotton On's job ad cops flak

Cotton On has apologised for running erroneous job ad in Singapore.A total of 10 job postings on its site for Singapore said it was looking to hire only Malaysian citizen or permanent resident applicants. Transitioning.org, a group that supports the unemployed in Singapore, highlighted in a letter to Australian retail brand Cotton On’s chief executive officer Peter Johnson, that there was discrimination in the company's online jobs advertisement.When contacted by Marketing, a spokesperson said that it was a case of "human error". On Sunday an administrative error that had been overlooked was bought to the retailers attention and the error was fixed within 45 minutes."Ten recent job advertisements were mistakenly created and uploaded using a Cotton On Group Malaysian recruitment template, stating the roles were only available for Malaysian citizens or permanent residents, which is inaccurate. These advertisements have been updated using the current Singaporean template to reflect the correct information for all Singapore-based roles," he said.Australia-based Cotton On currently has stores in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand."The Cotton On Group prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer and has a strong connection with Singapore and its people. The Cotton On Group has a workforce of 1592 people in Singapore of which 95 % are Singaporean citizens and permanent residents," he added.Earlier in September, 10 companies were banned by MOM from hiring new foreign workers for six months after placing discriminatory job advertisements. This was part of MOM’s fight to stop discrimination in jobs. The companies also had to post apologies on their websites for 30 days.