12 Types of Work Leaves in S’pore That People Might Not Know Of

Last Updated on 2024-08-03 , 10:01 pm

When it comes to leave, most of us would just think of annual leave; after all, what types of leave are there?

However, have you heard of…marriage leave?

I bet all my boss’ assets that it’s so new to you, you might be wondering if we’re #fakenews.

But we’re not, though marriage leave is a privilege instead of an entitlement.

In other words, for leave, there are usually two types: one is an entitlement, in which the company die-die must give if not they’ll be breaking the law, and the other is a privilege, whereby the company can choose not to give because it’s not part of the law.

Here are 12 types of leave (9 are entitlements while 3 are privileges) you probably didn’t know about (okay, that’s clickbait; you’ll be damned if you didn’t know about at least one or two of them).

Adoption Leave

Bet you didn’t know about this, eh?

Unfortunately, this is only for the adoptive mother, so if you’re a guy, too bad for you.

As a mother of an adopted child, you’ll be entitled to adoption leave if the adopted child is less than 12 months old when you’ve made the formal intent to adopt. For a local child, it must be the time when you file the court application, and for a foreign child, it must be during the time the in-principle is granted for a Dependent’s pass.

The child must be a Singapore citizen or become a citizen within six months of adoption, and one of the parents must be a Singapore citizen.

You must have worked in your company for at least three months (remember this because you’ll be seeing this often). Also, the leave must be used before the child turns one year old.

The entitlement is 12 weeks (i.e. about 3 months), and if it’s your first or second adopted child, your company would pay your salary for the first month while the Government would pay for the second and third month.

If you’re a Angelina Jolie who’s adopted a third or more child, the Government would pay for the entirety of your leave. However, do note that the Government would give the money to your employer who’ll still pay you as usual, so there’s still CPF contribution.

Do note that it’s subject to a maximum of $20,000 for the first and second child, and $30,000 for the third child onward. Suffice to say, that should be enough unless you’re earning our boss’ salary.

For the leave, you’d have to talk to your employer on when to consume it.

For more information, click here.

Childcare Leave

Now, this is something more familiar, especially to parents.

But with many bosses now younger than their employees, it’s apt for bosses to know this, too.

Simply put, if you’ve worked in a company for more than three months and have a Singaporean child who’s less than seven years old, you’d have six days of paid childcare leave per year.

If your child isn’t a Singapore citizen, it would be two days of paid childcare leave per year.

For bosses, here’s something to note: the first three days would be paid for by you while the other three days by the Government. Payment is capped at $500 a day, and so, as usual, it should be more than enough unless you’re Goody Feed boss.

But what if your child is 7 and above?

Fret not. Still got leave.

Extended Childcare Leave

If your youngest child (note: only for the youngest one…no wonder the youngest one always gets the best-est thingy) is between 7 and 12 years old, you’ll get 2 days of extended childcare leave, which is fully paid for by the Government.

Now, what if you’ve got two kids, one below 7 and one between 7 and 12? Would you get both normal and extended childcare leave?

Well, wait long long, because the answer’s NO. Don’t like this lah, think a bit for your company also lah.

Maternity leave

This is yet another type of leave that we’re more familiar with: maternity leave.

It’s pretty similar to adoption leave: you’ll get 16 weeks (about four months) of paid maternity leave if your child is a Singapore citizen, or 12 weeks (about three months) if your child isn’t one. As usual, you’d need to have worked for at least three months in your company.

Also, you have to inform your company at least one week before going on maternity leave if not you’ll only be entitled to half the payment during your leave. So please, do yourself and your company a favour by informing them in advance instead of disappearing all of a sudden to pop.

You’ll still be paid a normal salary from your company, and here’s something for the bosses to know:

For the first and second child, the company would need to pay the first eight weeks salary, while the next eight weeks would be paid for by the Government. For the third child onward, the Government would pay for the entirety of the leave.

Now, how about the fathers?

Paternity Leave

Guys who just stepped into fatherhood would have leave as well, known as Paternity Leave.

As usual, the common requirements apply: the child needs to be a Singapore citizen, you need to be legally married to the mother of the child (duh?) as Audition or MapleStory marriage doesn’t count and you need to work in the company for at least three months.

The entitlement is two weeks, and it’s capped at $2,500 a week.

And bosses, here’s the goody thingy: this is fully funded by the Government!

Shared paternity leave

I don’t know which scholar came out with this idea, and if you’re reading this, I can vouch that every Papa is looking to buy you a cup of coffee.

Remember how the mother would have 16 weeks of leave? If you’re the father and is lawfully married to the wife (as usual, Audition and MapleStory don’t count), you can take up to 4 weeks of your wife’s maternity leave.

It has to be taken within a year after the child is born and you can arrange with your company on when to take them.

Sick Leave

Bet you’re thinking, What? Isn’t that MC?

Well, technically, it’s a leave and it’s called sick leave.

You see, the MC is just to prove that you’re unfit for work by a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Registration Act or Dental Registration Act.

And note this: there’s a limit to the number of paid sick leave you can take a year. If you’ve worked in a company for more than six months, it’ll be 14 days per year.

In addition, if you need to be hospitalized, you’re entitled to up to 60 days of paid hospitalization leave if you’ve worked for more than six months.

But if you’ve taken, say, 5 days of paid sick leave, then your paid hospitalization leave would be reduced to 55 days.

Then again, here’s an advice: just stay healthy instead lah. It’s not worth it.

Unpaid Infant Care Leave

This is pretty interesting because it’s the only entitlement that doesn’t pay.

Basically, if your child is less than two years old, you are entitled to 6 days of unpaid infant care leave (not related to the paid childcare leave).

So what’s the difference between this and normal unpaid leave?

This is an entitlement, which means your employer cannot reject and must give you, even if it’s unpaid.

Annual Leave

Ah, we thought it’s still essential to include this since it’s one that’s so familiar, someone in the office just applied for it an hour ago earlier.

Privilege Leaves

The leaves mentioned above are all entitlements, which means companies must give if not they’d be breaking the law.

How about special leaves that companies give to their employees so that they can retain them?

The sky’s the limit for this: some companies give Birthday Leave, Anniversary Leave or even Cai Png Day Leave.

But if we’re talking about the more common ones, there are a few:

Family Care Leave
It’s basically a leave for employees to take care of their family members if needed. As usual, there are no hard rules for this, but just for reference, DSO National Laboratories give their staff two days of Family Care Leave a year.

Marriage Leave
Someone’s getting married? Some companies give Marriage Leave, whether it’s paid or unpaid, though it’s usually paid. Of course, it’s going to be just one or two days, and last I know, it should be just once per employee for his or her entire lifetime…

Unpaid Leave
You should be very familiar with this, but this isn’t an entitlement but a privilege, if not we’ll have someone who works in a company and takes unpaid leave for the entire year while getting paid for the paid leave.

BONUS FOR GUYS

ICT “Leave”

Okay, this isn’t a leave but more of an NSman having to go back to camp for one or two weeks while still getting paid a salary. We call it a “leave” because the guy’s going for a paid chalet with his good buddies whom he’ll see once a year.

And according to what I know, he’ll be thrilled AF because he’s not just leaving his work temporarily but leaving his wife’s nagging at home.

Pretty lit if you think about it.