MOM: From 15 Jan, Sacking of Unvaccinated Employees Isn’t Wrongful If They Need to be in Workplace

By
Boon Hun
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It’s not a great time to be unvaccinated against COVID-19 in Singapore.

For one, you can’t enter shopping malls even if your favourite Tim Ho Wan is having a promotion.

You might be slapped with a hefty bill if you end up in ICU due to COVID-19.

@mustsharenewsTrevor Noah & Ronny Chieng on Singapore making unvaccinated people pay their medical bills 🧐 #singapore #mustsharenews #tiktoksg #sgnews #trevornoah♬ original sound – MustShareNews

And now, you can be fired without consequences because of your vaccination status.

SJW1: What? That’s discrimination!

SJW2: Let’s sign a petition!

Yes, believe it or not, that’s what the Ministry of Manpower is saying on 27 Dec 2021.

Here’s what you need to know.

MOM: From 15 Jan, Sacking of Unvaccinated Employees Isn’t Wrongful If They Need to be in Workplace

In case you missed it, from 15 Jan 2022 onwards, unvaccinated employees are not allowed to return to their workplaces anymore.

That’s even if they tested negative for COVID-19 24 hours before.

So, what does this mean for employees who are unvaccinated? Well, in a nutshell, the worst-case scenario is to fire them.

Under section 6 of the guidelines, MOM gave a few suggestions for employers who have unvaccinated employees working in the workplace.

The first is to redeploy them to roles that allow them to Work-From-Home (WFH). Pay can, of course, be readjusted to suit the new responsibilities.

If there are difficulties in doing that, employers and unvaccinated employees can come to a mutual agreement to place them on no-pay leave.

And finally, as a last resort, companies can fire them with notice. As long as the reason for dismissal is due to their inability to work in the workplace, it’s not a wrongful dismissal.

Not For All Unvaccinated Employees

Of course, then, you’re wondering, how about those who are unvaccinated not by choice?

Well, for those who are medically ineligible for COVID-19 vaccination, don’t worry, you’re not part of the aforementioned group.

Under section 7 of the updated guidelines, individuals who are medically ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccines are still allowed to work on-site.

However, employers are still encouraged to deploy them to WFH roles or allow them to do so as long as it won’t affect their performance assessment.

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Grace Period For Partially-Unvaccinated Employees

Now, what about employees who are halfway through their vaccination journey?

For these, the authorities have given them a grace period until 31 Jan 2022.

They will, however, need to complete pre-event COVID-19 testing.

52,000 Employees Still Unvaccinated

According to MOM, about 52,000 employees in Singapore did not take any COVID-19 vaccine.

This is a great improvement from 5 Dec 2021 where about 75,000 employees were not vaccinated against the global pandemic.

It was added that only a “small proportion” of these unvaccinated employees are medically ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccines.

Out of the 52,000 employees who are still unvaccinated, about 6,700 of them are above 60 years old and at a high risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 infection.

Moral of the story?

Get vaccinated because as the trend has shown, the government’s coming down hard on unvaccinated individuals, especially in light of the Omicron strain.

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Feature Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com

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Boon Hun
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