Imagine you work in Singapore and have gone back to China for Chinese New Year.
All of a sudden, you saw on the news that Singapore is barring anyone who’s been in China for the last 14 days to enter Singapore soil.
Wait, does that mean you can’t go back to Singapore?
No, you can, except that you’d need to take 14 days of leave of absence once you’re back.
Okay, but how’s your company going to survive with you? I mean, the reason why you come back is obviously to work.
Well, there’s now a solution.
Kind of.
S’pore to Give $100 a Day to Employers of Workers Who Are Returning to S’pore to Serve 14 Days of Leave of Absence
With a whopping 30,000 people from China who’ve yet to come back to Singapore to work on 2 Feb, you can bet that it’s going to be a challenge when they do indeed come back.
They’d have to be placed for a 14-day leave of absence, and companies are going to suffer with the lack of manpower.
I mean, it’s a pain in the butt when my colleague just took one day of leave—14 days is going to be so much more painful.
Today, the authorities have announced a temporarily solution.
For a start, that 14 days of LOA is compulsory; companies and employees can’t suka suka think that they’re not sick and therefore go on with their lives. The authorities are very serious about this: they will be tightening the monitoring and enforcement of the LOA.
And before they come back, employers will have to inform the Ministry of Manpower. This is to allow the workers’ return to be staggered and the flow of workers to be managed better.
Finally, employers will receive $100 a day for each worker that’s on LOA.
Reader Bao: Wait, I thought there’s a $100-per-day thingy all along one.
No, Mr Bao. Before that, it was only for people under quarantine order.
Reader Bao: What’s the difference?
Read this article about the key differences between a quarantine order and a leave of a leave of absence. But for brevity’s sake, here’s what you should know: quarantine order is much more serious, and is usually reserved for those who had close contacts with confirmed cases. Instead of staying at home, they have to be quarantined at a quarantine facility provided by the authorities unless they have their own room and toilet at home.
Now, moving on: in addition to the $100 per day to the employer, which will help them tide over this difficult period, the work levy for those workers under LOA will also be waived during the LOA period.
Hopefully, this help would ensure that employers don’t anyhowly send their LOA to work.
What if Employers Still Break the Rules?
If employers decided to break the rules, there would be serious penalties.
The authorities might revoke work permit privileges of the employer.
But seriously, there’s another consequence; that employer might be responsible for a community spread just because he or she thinks the company’s needs outweigh the needs of the society.
So if you’re an employer, be warned: be socially responsible, because Ah Gong is watching.
