Singapore
Singapore: Government issues Advisory on Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations for Employees
In light of the Singapore Government strongly encouraging those who are medically eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccination, the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM“), the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation (together, the “Tripartite Partners“) had on 2 July 2021 jointly issued an Advisory on COVID-19 vaccination in employment settings (“Advisory“).
A summary of the Advisory is as follows:
- Workplace vaccination policy
As Singapore’s National Vaccination Programme is not mandatory, employers should not make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for employees unless the exception for “higher risk employment settings” applies (discussed below). Employers should instead strongly encourage employees to get vaccinated by providing support and benefits to employees, including providing paid vaccination leave and additional paid medical leave in the event of side effects as well as educating employees on the benefits of being vaccinated.
Employers may also ask employees for their vaccination status for business purposes such as business continuity planning. However, employers should not terminate or penalise employees who decline vaccination.
- Employees in higher risk employment settings
Some employees may be exposed to employment settings with higher risks of COVID-19 infection. Categories of higher risk employment settings are as follows:
- higher risk of exposure to COVID-19;
- employees in communal living environments; and
- work environment or nature of work does not allow for Safe Management Measures to be effective or practicable.
Non-exhaustive examples of jobs in such higher risk employment settings can be found in the Advisory and includes front line workers, employees living in dormitories and construction, marine shipyard and process employees who are deployed to work sites.
Requiring COVID-19 vaccination as a company policy
Employers may impose the vaccination requirement as a company policy for higher risk employment settings or when recruiting or advertising for new hires in such settings.
Employers requiring vaccination should clearly communicate the policy to employees.
Managing employees who decline vaccination
Employees in higher risk employment settings who decline vaccination should not be penalised or terminated by employers. Employers may instead:
(a) redeploy such employees to another job in a lower risk setting that commensurate with the employee’s experience and skills or as mutually agreed between the employer and the employee;
(b) recover COVID-19 related costs (e.g. costs of COVID-19 testing or Stay Home Notice (“SHN”) accommodation) incurred from employees (who declined vaccination) that are over and above the costs incurred for vaccinated employees in similar employment settings. Alternatively, employers may require employees to pay such costs to the relevant service providers directly; or
(c) adopt a differentiated leave policy for vaccinated employees and employees who decline vaccination such as requiring employees who decline vaccination to go on no-pay leave during any SHN.
Other measures may be mutually agreed between the union and the employer (if applicable).
Employers should also make reasonable efforts to find out why employees decline vaccination and address their concerns.
For employees who are not medically eligible for vaccination, employers should exempt them from the company’s vaccination requirement and redeploy them in accordance with measure (a) above. However, employers should not recover any COVID-19 related costs from such employees if they decline the redeployment offer.
- Safe Management Measures
Even though employees may be vaccinated, Safe Management Measures, including mask-wearing and where required, wearing of Personal Protective Equipment, must still be observed at workplaces.
Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel
Although it is clear that COVID-19 vaccinations are not mandatory in Singapore and employees can refuse to be vaccinated, employers should not terminate or penalise employees who decline being vaccinated. Instead, employers should try to address the employee’s reasonable concerns and adopt other alternatives e.g. redeployment. Employers may also consider offering incentives to encourage employees to be vaccinated.
Singapore updates its retrenchment advisories to support local workers
As a result of COVID-19, businesses in Singapore have implemented cost-saving measures such as reduction of employees’ salaries and retrenchment. In March, the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM“), the National Trades Union Congress (“NTUC“) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (“SNEF“) (together, the “Tripartite Partners“) had jointly updated the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment (“Advisory“).
The Tripartite Partners have yet again updated the Advisory on 17 October 2020 (“Updated Advisory“) to emphasise key desired outcomes in any retrenchment exercise, in light of retrenchments being inevitable for some employers despite available government grants and support.
A summary of the updates is as follows:
- Maintaining a Singaporean core
The Updated Advisory urges employers to use objective criteria in the selection of employees to be retrenched and strongly encourages them to take a long-term view of their manpower needs, including the need to maintain a strong Singaporean core and preserve jobs as far as possible.
Employers are encouraged to plan ahead and provide employees with reskilling, training and redeployment opportunities, especially for their Singaporean core. Employers can also tap on Government training support schemes and redeployment programmes to aid them in their plans.
- Retrenching responsibly, sensitively and providing support
The Updated Advisory provides further guidance on how affected employees are to be notified and the type of support to be given to them.
Employers must comply with the Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications requirement under the Employment Act (Cap. 91) of Singapore, which states that employers must notify the MOM of retrenchments within 5 working days after they notify their affected employees.
Retrenchment benefits would depend on the affected employee’s year(s) of service and employment contract or if not specified in the employment contract, the prevailing norm of the industry and financial position of the company.
Further information on retrenchment notifications and benefits can be found in Annex C of the Updated Advisory.
Additionally, a responsible retrenchment practices checklist for employers to follow can be found in Annex B of the Updated Advisory.
- Suggested good practices
Employers are encouraged to:
- provide longer notice periods beyond contractual or statutory requirements where possible;
- prepare managers for notifying employees of retrenchment in a sensitive manner;
- have HR personnel and union representatives onsite to address queries from retrenched employees, and maintain an open communication channel with affected employees;
- give affected employees time and space to adjust to the news, before requesting them to vacate their workplaces; and
- be sensitive to emotional needs of affected employees, including offering counselling and support.
Employers may also wish to help affected local employees maintain or build up relevant skills by providing training assistance to them post-retrenchment.
Employers are encouraged to adopt the recommendations and guidance in the Updated Advisory, which, alongside its Annexures, can be found here.
For more information on these articles or any other issues involving labour and employment matters in Singapore, please contact Thomas Choo (Partner) of Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore at Thomas.Choo@clydeco.com or visit www.clydeco.com.
For more information please contact Joseph Granato, Communications Manager at L&E Global at joseph.granato@leglobal.org.
Singapore: Rules on Retrenchment Updated in Anticipation of Additional Layoffs amid COVID-19 crisis
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) have updated their joint advisory on managing excess manpower and responsible retrenchment. The updated advisory provides further guidance on how employers should lay off workers, as additional job cuts are expected amid the COVID-19 crisis. The latest government advisory, announced on 17 October, includes calls for companies to retain Singaporean workers, guidelines on how employers can break the news to their workers more sensitively, as well as to make training programmes part of the post-retrenchment package.
For more information on these articles or any other issues involving labour and employment matters in Singapore, please contact Thomas Choo (Partner) of Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore at Thomas.Choo@clydeco.com or visit www.clydeco.com.
For more information please contact Joseph Granato, Communications Manager at L&E Global at joseph.granato@leglobal.org.
Singapore: Tightening of Work Pass Requirements for Foreigners
To further support employment opportunities of locals in Singapore (i.e. Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents), the Ministry of Manpower of Singapore (“Ministry“) announced on 27 August 2020 changes to the Employment Pass (“EP“) and S Pass requirements.
A summary of the changes is set out below:
- Increase in EP minimum qualifying monthly salary
From 1 September 2020, the minimum monthly salary requirement for all new EP applicants will be raised from S$3,900 to S$4,500, with more experienced candidates requiring higher salaries.
For all EP renewal applicants, this new salary requirement will only take effect from 1 May 2021.
- Increase in EP minimum qualifying monthly salary for Financial Services Sector
Following the abovementioned increase of the minimum monthly salary requirement for all EP applicants, the minimum monthly salary requirement for new EP applicants in the Financial Services Sector will be raised to S$5,000 with effect from 1 December 2020, with more experienced candidates requiring higher salaries.
For EP renewal applicants in the Financial Services Sector, this new salary requirement will only take effect from 1 May 2021.
- Increase in S Pass minimum qualifying monthly salary
From 1 October 2020, the minimum monthly salary requirement for all new S Pass applicants will be raised from S$2,400 to S$2,500, with more experienced candidates requiring higher salaries.
For all S Pass renewal applicants, this new salary requirement will only take effect from 1 May 2021.
There will be no changes to S Pass levies and quotas.
- Considerations for EP and S Pass applications
The Ministry has emphasised that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and to encourage employers to build and retain a core of Singapore employees, it would be strictly taking into account the following when considering EP and S Pass applications:
- Whether the employer has kept up support of local PMETs (i.e. professionals, managers, executives and Technicians) in its employment; and
- Whether the employer has been responsive to government efforts to help recruit and train more Singaporean PMETs.
- Fair consideration framework
Currently, under the fair consideration framework, before submitting a new EP application, employers are required to advertise the job vacancy on MyCareersFuture.sg for 14 days and consider local applicants fairly.
With effect from 1 October 2020, the fair consideration framework job advertising requirement will be changed as follows:
- The job advertising requirement will extend to new S Pass applications as well; and
- The minimum duration that the job vacancy is required to be advertised on MyCareersFuture.sg for both EP and S Pass applicants will be extended to 28 days (from 14 days).
Apart from the above-mentioned changes, the Ministry will put employers whose PMET workforce profiles suggest a bias against locals on the fair consideration framework watchlist, with greater scrutiny given to their EP and S Pass applications.
For more information, please refer to the Ministry’s press release, which can be accessed here.
For more information on these articles or any other issues involving labour and employment matters in Singapore, please contact Thomas Choo (Partner) of Clyde & Co Clasis at Thomas.Choo@clydeco.com or visit www.clydeco.com.
For more information please contact Joseph Granato, Communications Manager at L&E Global at joseph.granato@leglobal.org.