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New Maternity Leave Regulations in Singapore
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In August 2008, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that mandatory maternity leave allowance in Singapore would increase from 12 weeks to 16 weeks. This is the second time since 2004 that maternity leave has been raised by four weeks. The new regulations went into effect on August 17, 2008. In addition, parents are now entitled to six days of childcare leave per year until the child is seven (half paid by the company and half by the government), and six days of infant care leave per year until the child is two. This is the latest in efforts to boost the falling birthrate in Singapore and will cost the government around S$700 million (about USD $487 million) a year, pushing the total spent on increasing the birthrate to over S$1.5 billion (about USD $1 billion).
Although the government is taking on the financial responsibility for the extra four weeks of maternity leave, it will be up to companies to find alternative ways to cover employees on leave. One suggestion could be to train staff in several positions so that they can cover for their colleagues. Another option could be to utilize the flexibility of maternity leave by breaking down the time off into multiple shorter absences during the first year after childbirth to maintain company competitiveness. For example, a new mother could take eight weeks off initially and then stagger the remaining days by working part time for the rest of the year.
In light of the government’s new provisions to accommodate growing families, extra precautions have been taken to institute fairness and prevent gender discrimination. For example, if women are fired without just cause within the last six months of their pregnancy, employers will still be required to pay these women their maternity leave benefits. The Singaporean government’s ultimate objective is to steadily increase the birthrate, while making the transition between family life and work life as smooth as possible.