Reinstatement or Compensation Possible

Reinstatement or Compensation Possible
- The New Paper, 16 September 2008

Please refer to the letter by Ms Teo Lay Koon ("Pregnant and Sacked", TNP Sep 9).

2.   The Employment Act protects employees, including pregnant staff, from being dismissed unfairly. If you consider yourself to have been dismissed without just cause or excuse, you can appeal in writing to the Ministry of Manpower, within one month from the date of dismissal. If investigations confirm that you have been unfairly dismissed, the Minister can order a reinstatement of your employment or compensation to be paid to you.

3.   We invite Ms Teo to contact Ms Anita Ng at 6317 1154 or Mr Lau Weng Hong at 6317 1159 or email mom_lrd@mom.gov.sg to provide us with details of her case.

Pregnant and Sacked
- The New Paper, 09 September 2008

Recently, I was lucky to discover that I was pregnant with my second child. I was even more glad when the government announced the new protection rights for pregnant women. Under current laws, a woman with six months' service is entitled to paid maternity leave. If she is dismissed without sufficient cause within six months before the birth, the employer must still grant her paid maternity leave.

I am now 17 weeks pregnant and when the government announced the enhanced protection for pregnant employees last month, I was extremely happy. Unfortunately, I was terminated last Friday without warning. The verbal reason my employer gave me was that I was underperforming. I was not compensated on the maternity leave benefits, that is, four months of pay.

Instead, I was provided with one month's pay as compensation and was asked to leave immediately, on the same day as my termination. Now that the company has let me go, it will be difficult for me to get a new job, given my pregnancy.