Singapore woman awarded compensation for dismissal due to pregnancy — Channel NewsAsia
Singapore’s Employment Claims Tribunals awarded a woman S$19,800 in compensation, finding that her dismissal due to pregnancy and upcoming maternity leave was wrongful. The amount includes three months of gross salary — S$9,900 — and another three months of payments for harm suffered.
As Channel NewsAsia reports, the employee, identified in the decision by the letter C, began working for an unnamed company in April 2021. In April 2023, she told the new director of her division that she was pregnant and due to give birth in October. She was also considering taking several months of sabbatical leave to care for her newborn child.
Conversation before childbirth
In July 2023, the woman’s work was assessed as excellent. Her appraisal noted her professional development and ability to work on interdisciplinary projects, and the new manager agreed with the positive assessment. At the same time, she did not receive a salary increase in July, although other company employees did.
In September, at the 36th week of pregnancy, the woman was hospitalised due to pregnancy-related complications and high blood pressure. She was on medical leave until the birth of her child. The manager tried to contact her several times, and on October 4, during a phone conversation, said that she did not fit his vision for the new team. The conversation was fully recorded by the employee’s husband.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
According to the woman, she was told that her employment would be terminated after the end of her maternity leave. The company said that the manager only wanted to clarify her plans after that leave, given her previously expressed interest in sabbatical leave.
Tribunal findings
Magistrate Lee Li Choon concluded that there was no urgent need for the call and that it was not made in good faith. The company did not call the manager as a witness. During the hearing, another director said that as early as September he had asked her how the employee would react to being told that she did not fit his vision for the team.
The tribunal found that the real reason for the planned termination of employment was the woman’s upcoming absence due to medical leave and maternity leave. The magistrate noted that both types of leave were the employee’s employment rights, while the intention to dismiss her for using them was an unlawful ground and discrimination based on pregnancy and maternity leave. In December 2023, the woman submitted her resignation while on maternity leave and later said that she had effectively been forced to do so.
