Employers urged to impose leave of absence on staff who travelled during March holidays, can claim S$100 a day in support: MOM

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has urged employers to impose a 14-day leave of absence on staff members who travelled during the March school holidays. In support of each employee placed on leave during this period, it will allow eligible employers and self-employed persons to claim S$100 a day. 

This comes a day after the Government announced that students and staff members from schools, preschools and student care centres who returned from overseas between March 14 and 20 will be placed on a mandatory 14-day leave of absence from their date of return.

In a statement on Friday (March 20), MOM encouraged employers to impose a similar 14-day leave of absence for all employees returning to Singapore between those dates.

"The Government recognises that many parents have been affected by this national measure due to the need to provide care for their children during this period," MOM said, adding that it is a “useful precautionary measure” for recent travellers to stay away from the workplace to prevent further transmission of Covid-19.

School holidays this year for the month starts from March 14 to 22. 

The ministry called on employers to first adopt flexible arrangements to allow affected employees to work from home during their company-imposed leave-of-absence period.

But if working from home is not feasible, they are encouraged to provide more paid leave, and eligible employers will be able to claim the S$100 in daily support for each affected staff member who completes the leave of absence, MOM said.

Self-employed persons will also be eligible to apply if they have self-imposed the 14-day leave of absence.

However, employers and self-employed persons will not be eligible if they or the affected employee performed work remotely or if they were required to use their own annual leave, childcare leave or other paid leave during the leave-of-absence period, MOM said.

Those with affected employees placed on a mandatory stay-home notice but whose travel did not start before the following specified dates will also not be eligible:                     

• Travelling to mainland China on or before Jan 31, 2020;       

• Travelling to Daegu city or Cheongdo county in South Korea on or before Feb 26, 2020;

• Travelling to South Korea, Northern Italy, or Iran on or before March 4, 2020;

• Travelling to Italy, Spain, France or Germany on or before March 15, 2020;

• Traveling to Asean countries, Japan, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom on or before March 16, 2020; or                   

• Travelling to all other countries on or before March 20, 2020.

People given stay-home orders must remain in their place of residence at all times, while people on leave of absence are allowed to leave their place of residence to buy daily necessities or to attend to important personal matters. 

Only Singapore citizens, permanent residents and work pass holders are covered under the leave-of-absence support programme, while employers with affected work pass holders will also qualify for a levy waiver.

Singapore tightened its travel restrictions on Wednesday to stem the rise of imported Covid-19 cases here.

All travellers arriving in Singapore after 11:59pm on Friday will be issued with stay-home notices under the expanded restrictions.