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Companies in Singapore that track employees' use of sick leave and tie attendance to incentives could be slapped with "enforcement action", Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon said in Parliament on Monday, Feb. 28.

The penalties include suspension of work pass privileges.

He said employers who continue with such schemes will be advised to stop doing so.

Koh added: "If they continue with the practice, TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices) will recommend to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to take enforcement action."

Koh was replying to a parliamentary question by Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng, who asked what is the government doing about companies that issue attendance bonuses that dissuade sick employees from taking medical leave.

Not everything has to become law

Koh said the scope and design of legislation is being worked out now to "enshrine" the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) in law.

This was despite not having to make legislation "a solution to every workplace issue".

He said: "The key objective of this new legislation is to provide a strong statement against workplace discrimination and broaden the range of actions that can be taken when workplace discrimination on the basis of characteristics such as age, nationality or race occurs."

He also said tripartite partners and MOM adopt a range of guidelines and education that are effective in addressing various workplace issues.

Previously, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng had said on Feb. 14 that attendance-related incentive schemes may have emerged over time to help "deter malingering and instil a more disciplined workforce".

However, Koh said attendance-related incentive schemes that consider sick leave utilisation are contrary to this principle, seen as a way of reducing abuse of sick leave by employees.

Background to issue

President of Singapore Halimah Yacob recently slammed the practice of tying incentives to presenteeism by employers after it emerged that a pest control technician was jailed for refusing a Covid-19 swab test because he did not want to forfeit a monthly work incentive.

Top photo via Unsplash

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