Last year, we shared a story on the alleged "no-MC" policy for cabin crew, shedding light on two types of medical leaves:

1) “Casual” MC, which would include minor ailments such as stomachache and fever.

2) “Non-casual” MC, which covers more serious illness.

Under this system, each cabin crew member is given 10 incentive points a year.

Once a cabin crew has accumulated 12 casual MCs, all the points will be deducted.

New appraisal system

However, this will all change when a new appraisal system takes effect this coming April.

According to a Straits Times report, cabin crew will no longer have their incentive points penalised when they take medical leave for minor ailments such as coughs and fever.

Effort to reflect work performance accurately

Speaking to Mothership, an SIA spokesperson mentioned that while they are unable to share details of the appraisal, the current system has been reviewed and will be restructured.

The changes will be made to "more accurately reflect their (cabin crew) work performance".

"We have been reviewing and will be restructuring the Cabin Crew's annual appraisal scorecard which takes into account areas such as customer feedback, their operational and regulatory knowledge, etc in order to more accurately reflect their work performance."

The restructure of the appraisal system comes one year after the death of Vanessa Yeap, an air stewardess who was found dead in a hotel room in San Francisco.

She was the leading stewardess on a long-haul flight from Singapore to San Francisco, with a stopover in Hong Kong and was due to be on the return leg of the flight.

Yeap was allegedly not feeling well when she arrived in San Francisco.

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MOM: Employers should adopt fair appraisal systems

In a previous article, a Ministry of Manpower spokesperson told Mothership 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”.

Top image via Singapore Airlines' Facebook page