Who do you think bears the cost of the 14-day Leave of Absence (LOA) or Stay-Home-Notice (SHN)?
Is it the employers?
Or is it the employees?
Well, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has stepped forward to clarify matters.
Employers Not Allowed To Force Workers To Take No-Pay Leave
Any employers found forcing their workers to take no-pay leave when there’s not enough annual leave for the 14-day SHN or LOA period will be penalised.
Their privilege to apply for work passes will be suspended.
And it’s not just for people coming back from China.
Even If It’s Not To China, Employers Will Bear The Cost
According to MOM, employees who did not travel to China “shouldn’t be asked to stay away from the workplace”.
But if the employers were to insist (better safe than not, right?), they have to bear the cost of the leave of absence.
The employers have to pay the employers their full salary for the duration of the LOA without touching their original leave benefits.
After all, the employees didn’t want the Covid-19 to happen as well, right?
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The companies who provide extra paid leave can apply for the leave-of-absence support programme by MOM.
Why The Sudden Announcement?
Well, it seems that MOM’s ire has been raised due to a netizen’s account of what happened to his former colleague.
He was told that regardless of which country they’ve returned from, the employees have to take a 14-day leave of absence from work.
These 14 days will be taken out of their annual leave. And if the employee doesn’t have enough annual leave to cover the LOA period, they’ll have to take no-pay leave.
A no-pay leave basically means the employee will not be paid for that day.
Currently, only people returning from China has to adhere to a complusory 14-day SHN.
Workers First
In case you can’t tell from Budget 2020, keeping Singaporean workers in jobs is the top priority during the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Drivers were given help to deal with lower earnings, companies were urged to retain their staff and train them up in time for the upturn.
Households and companies are also given financial aid to tide over the next three months.
Basically, they’re not just thinking about how to survive the Covid-19. They’re also thinking about how to survive after as well.
