Many of us would have heard about the supposedly controversial cabin crew medical leave (MC) system by the Singapore Airlines (SIA).

So what is SIA doing to address these concerns?

It appears that our national carrier prefers to shy away from the limelight with vague replies and keep issues under wraps for a while.

Death of crew

Last week, a tragic incident occurred: SIA stewardess Vanessa Yeap, 38, was found dead in a San Francisco hotel room. She was reportedly ill two days before the incident.

In the wake of this news, some former cabin crew have taken to the Internet to claim that SIA crew would go so far as to avoid taking medical leave as doing so would affect their chances at being promoted.

In SIA, there were apparently two categories of Medical Certificates, namely, "casual" and "non-casual". A casual MC is for common illness such as stomachache, cold and cough.

A non-casual MC is for ailments that can be regarded as more serious.

The Straits Times found out that cabin crew -- both flight stewards and stewardesses -- have 10 incentive points each year that is pegged to the MC system.

These points will be deducted when they submit an MC that is deemed as "a casual MC".

SIA declined to provide further details on MC policies

First, SIA declined to provide details when queried by ST about its performance management process, but "stressed that those on medical leave are encouraged to rest and recuperate at home".

SIA also told ST that cabin crew operating with an MC is a disciplinary lapse.

Second, an SIA spokesman told The New Paper on Feb. 4 that "there is no reward for maintaining an MC-free record".

It's a roundabout way to clarify with the media that there is no penalty imposed on crew members if they clocked up too many casual MCs.

How about just telling the media that there is no company-wide incentives for crew members if they do not take MCs?

Ministry of Manpower's view on MCs

SIA spokesman Nicholas Ionides told ST that "although crew attendance is a component in the performance management process, we would like to emphasise that crew performance is measured across many other factors".

In fact, an internal SIA circular stated that "the MC component makes up 4 to 6 per cent of the annual appraisal".

But should crew attendance be included as part of a company's performance management process?

An MOM spokesperson told Mothership.sg that "paid sick and hospitalisation leave is a basic protection under the Employment Act and is also a core benefit in collective agreements".

She said that "employers should avoid penalising an employee solely based on his consumption of sick leave".

The MOM spokesperson added that employers should adopt appraisal or performance management systems that are fair and objective, and takes into consideration "the employee's ability, performance and contributions".

With the online backlash, will SIA be reviewing its MC policies soon?

When asked by Mothership.sg on whether SIA would be reviewing its sick leave system, an SIA spokesperson replied:

"While we are not able to provide specific details on our HR policies, we can share that all feedback received has been passed on to the relevant department for their review. We also regularly review all practices and policies across the Company."

More importantly, should SIA be reviewing its HR policies too?

A scan of past headlines show that SIA appears to have high turn-over rates among its cabin crew.

SIA recruits about 800 to 1,000 cabin crew annually.

SIA's annual reports over the years stated that it employs 7,741 cabin crew in 2016, 7,586 cabin crew in 2015, and 7,733 cabin crew in 2014.

In other words, its cabin crew continued to stay stable in terms of numbers between 7,500 to 7,700 while SIA has to recruit about 800 to 1,000 cabin crew per year.

This means that SIA has an annual turn-over rate of about 12 percent.

This is disproportionally higher than the national labour turn-over at 2-3 per cent.

Is this trend healthy for our national carrier?

Cabin crew contracts -- is she treated like a contract worker?

In an ST report last year, cabin crew are hired on five-year contracts.

Hence, are cabin crew treated like freelancers who work for five years?

Fortunately, it's unlikely to be the case as cabin crew are entitled to leave and MC benefits, unlike freelancers who are only entitled to leave benefits under the Employment Act (EA), and the Child Development Co-Savings Act (CDCA), if they meet a minimum service period of three months without a break in service.

Unfortunately, the SIA spokesperson did not address Mothership.sg's question on whether its HR policies (especially on leave and MC) of SIA cabin crew are similar to other SIA staff (technical crew for instance).

Why not? This is because our national icon may not be getting a fair deal in comparison to his/ her counterparts, even within SIA.

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Top photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images

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