SINGAPORE – A woman who moonlighted for a competitor while working full-time for a corporate services firm was ordered by a district court to pay her former employer about $14,700 after she was found to have breached her employment obligations.
Michelle Wong worked full-time for Korporatio Sing from Jan 15, 2022, providing corporate secretarial services to its clients, including being appointed as a local director or corporate secretary.
Her employment was terminated without notice on Oct 16, 2023.
Korporatio subsequently sued Wong, alleging, among other things, that she provided corporate secretarial services to at least 86 companies that were not its clients, moonlighted at competing corporate secretarial firm Xion AI, and used a Korporatio e-mail address on at least 80 occasions to perform work for non-clients and to send invoices to Xion.
In a written judgment released on Aug 17, District Judge Teo Guan Kee found that Wong had breached the conflict-of-interest and non-competition provisions in her employment agreement, as well as her implied duty of good faith and fidelity to Korporatio.
Wong admitted that Xion provided the “same category” of services as Korporatio in Singapore and was its direct competitor.
Her employment agreement required her to disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest and obtain written approval, and prohibited her from providing technical, commercial or professional advice to a competing business. The court found no evidence that she had sought Korporatio’s approval.
Wong maintained that her work for Xion, which began in June 2022, was limited to Singpass authentication and providing internal operational guidance on ACRA’s system and filing processes.
But Judge Teo found that this amounted to at least providing technical advice to Xion, rejecting her argument that the arrangement was “purely functional, temporary and did not amount to competing business”.
The court noted that Wong allowed herself to be named as a nominee director or company secretary of Xion’s clients. By Sept 5, 2023, she was serving as a director for 86 companies that were not Korporatio clients.
Her Singpass credentials were also used to perform 811 ACRA transactions – for companies not on Korporatio’s client roster – from around June 2022 till at least October 2023, including incorporating companies and filing annual returns.
Korporatio also produced 18 invoices ranging from $400 to $3,500 that Wong had issued in her personal capacity to Xion between June 30, 2022 and April 30, 2023.
Wong, however, succeeded in part of her counterclaim against Korporatio, which was ordered to pay her $3,200 in outstanding salary from Oct 1, 2023, till her last day of employment, Oct 16, 2023.
Judge Teo said it was “abundantly clear” that Wong’s services to Xion amounted to providing technical, commercial or professional advice to a business competing with her employer.
The court also found that Korporatio was entitled to terminate Wong without notice. Her counterclaims premised on wrongful dismissal therefore failed.
Korporatio did not, however, succeed on the bulk of the substantial damages it sought.
Judge Teo rejected much of Korporatio’s damages case, finding problems with the assumptions underpinning its calculations. The court awarded it nominal damages of $100 for loss from diversion of productivity and $14,583.33 for losses arising from Wong’s failure to complete appointments as director or company secretary of its clients after her employment ended.
In the final judgment, Wong was ordered to pay Korporatio $14,683.33, with interest.
NTUC assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay shared the written judgment in an Aug 17 Facebook post, saying: “Even informal help given to a rival company while you’re still employed elsewhere can count as a breach of your work duties, not just outright ‘stealing’ clients.”
Tay, who is also the MP for Pioneer, pointed to the court’s rejection of much of Korporatio’s damages claims because they were based on “speculative formulas and unsupported assumptions, not hard evidence”.
He described the decision as a “timely reminder that well-drafted contracts protect both parties”, adding that clear contracts, documented conduct and proper evidence matter for employers and employees alike.
The Korporatio case is separate from a more recent dispute involving Wong and Statrys Corporate Services Singapore, where she worked as a secretary and director from November 2023 to April 2025.
Wong told ST that she was caught in a bind, as she could not remove herself as a director of companies she incorporated during her time at Statrys after she had left the firm. ACRA records on June 9 listed her as a director of at least 15 such companies.
