‘Is this even legal?’: Woman on sabbatical terminated by company after learning she was pregnant

SINGAPORE: A woman has triggered a discussion on the r/askSingapore forum after claiming that her company terminated her while she was on sabbatical leave.

In her post, she explained that she received the email about her termination the day after she informed the newly hired supervisor that she was five months pregnant.

She also mentioned that the sabbatical leave was not her idea, but rather the company’s.

“The sabbatical leave was NOT initiated by me. The company suggested I take two months off because I was an unnecessary expense. I was supposed to be working at a childcare centre that was initially due to open last year, [but] delays kept happening. [Also], while waiting for the new centre to open, I was temporarily placed at another childcare centre before they offered me the sabbatical,” she explained.

The woman added that her leave was later extended to three months due to “unforeseen circumstances”. When the newly hired supervisor finally reached out to inform her that she was expected to return to work in May, the woman replied by disclosing her pregnancy.

She did not, however, anticipate that this would lead to her termination, especially since her previous supervisor had already been informed about her pregnancy.

“I told the previous supervisor very early on that I was pregnant so that she could make arrangements and plan ahead. I didn’t even know she tendered her resignation then!” she wrote.

Wondering if her rights had been violated, she asked the Reddit community, “Is this even legal? Just for context, my baby’s due in August. If I had returned to work after two months as per the agreement, I would have been working for five months before going on maternity leave. Is there anything I can do at this point? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. With a toddler who’s in childcare and a baby on the way, I can’t afford not having income for the rest of the year.”

“Why are you surprised? After you give birth, you’ll probably be unavailable for many months…”

In the discussion thread that followed, the majority of Singaporean Redditors appeared to support the company’s position. One wrote, “Which employer would want an employee who is only going to work five out of twelve months of the year?”

Another commented, “Why are you surprised? After you give birth, you’ll probably be unavailable for many months as well. At this rate, you’ll effectively be MIA from the company for eight to nine months.”

A third added, “You joined a company for less than a year, were asked to go on sabbatical leave, and then, when the company asked you to come back, you revealed that you’re five months pregnant. So, you joined just to pass the probation period, take a break, and then claim maternity leave?”

Despite the negative comments, there were a handful of Redditors who empathised with the woman’s situation and offered her practical advice.

One said, “Oh, this will be an HR nightmare; please do document the timeline (roughly) and provide this as evidence to MOM. You should either A) receive a very healthy compensation or B) have your job reinstated with guarantees. Win-win.”

Maternity protection

According to the Ministry of Manpower, if an employer terminates an employee’s contract without sufficient cause while they are pregnant, or if the employee is retrenched during pregnancy, the employer is obligated to provide the maternity benefits the employee would have been entitled to, had they not been dismissed.

To qualify for this maternity protection, the employee must have been with the employer for a minimum of three months before receiving the notice of dismissal or retrenchment. Additionally, the employee must have been officially certified as pregnant by a medical practitioner before receiving this notice.

Read also: 33 yo woman earning S$15k/month says she’s burnt out and thinking of taking a year off

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