H1N1 VIRUS HR POLICIES LEAVE
Singapore – While Singapore companies are taking precautions by asking employees to stay at home after returning from overseas, some are deducting employees' quarantine days from their annual leave.
Twenty-seven companies which
The Straits Times spoke to were asked how they were dealing with the outbreak, and if they quarantined staff returning to work from trips to countries affected by the virus.
Most companies report not making quarantine compulsory for employees returning from personal visits to affected countries, but will advise them to stay home for seven days if they felt unwell.
This policy is aligned with the Minister of Manpower (MOM) guidelines, stating that the employer may request employees to stay away from work after non-work-related travel to an area affected by the H1N1 virus. The MOM’s guidelines also add that employers “are encouraged to be flexible and compassionate when implementing such arrangements”.
Whether employees use their personal leave during quarantine will depend on the individual policies of companies and sometimes the employee’s job.
For example, HSBC does not require staff to take annual leave or medical leave for a quarantine, while JPMorgan Private Bank allows employees to work from home so they do not need to take leave.
However, some companies like City Developments and Hong Leong Holdings require staff to be quarantined for seven days, and the duration is counted as annual leave if the trips taken were for personal reasons.
Similarly for UOB KayHian, an employee will still have to stay away from the office on his own leave in the event a H1N1 case is confirmed on the flight but he is not a close contact and was not issued a home quarantine order.
Some HR chiefs say that because the flu affected so many countries and will most likely last for a while, it is impractical to quarantine all returning employees.
“With the infection already in Singapore, imposing a quarantine on staff travelling may not mitigate the risk of infection,” says a spokesman from FJ Benjamin Holdings, which did not impose compulsory quarantine orders.
While all companies report their H1N1 policies working well till present moment, there is some unhappiness amid employees who felt it was unfair to force workers to use their annual leave for quarantine.
“There is some buzz in the HR community about staff raising this type of objection. Some have even checked the legal position, which is unclear,” says one HR director.
