Due to the evolving 2019- nCoV acute respiratory disease(the COVID-19) situation, the Ministry of Health (the MOH) and the Ministry of Manpower (the MOM) have issued several advisories which employers will need to be aware of.
These advisories set out measures including:
The MOM will reject all new work pass applications for foreign workers from mainland China until further notice although renewal applications for existing work pass holders will not be affected.
All returning employees with travel history to Hubei province within 14 days prior to arrival in Singapore, and returning permanent residents and long-term pass holders (including work passes, Dependant Passes and Long Term Visit Passes) with PRC passports issued in Hubei province, will be placed in quarantine pursuant to a Quarantine Order issued under the Infectious Diseases Act (IDA).
The MOH may also impose Quarantine Orders on those assessed to be a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case, which will include anyone who had either provided care to or who has had close physical contact to the confirmed case, or anyone who had stayed at the same place as the confirmed case, and will also further advise such individuals on the measures they should take. The MOM also has the right to instruct employers to disinfect workplaces exposed to any confirmed case of the COVID-19 .
Employees are deemed to be on paid hospitalization leave when complying with a Quarantine Order.
Employers can apply for a quarantine allowance from the MOH to mitigate the financial impact of such Quarantine Order. Failure to comply with such a Quarantine Order is an offence and will be subject to penalties under the IDA. .
All employees arriving from mainland China (excluding Hubei province) will upon arrival in Singapore, be required to:
(a) take a 14-day leave of absence (the LOA) from the day of arrival in Singapore if they arrive between 6 pm on 31 January 2020 and 11.58 pm on 18 February 2020; and
(b) abide by a 14-day “Stay-Home Notice” (SHN) from the day of arrival in Singapore if they arrive from 11.59 pm on 18 February 2020.
With the implementation of the SHN, the Singapore Government will no longer be issuing any new LOAs although all employees who are currently serving the LOA will continue serving the LOA. The SHN is stricter than, and imposes additional obligations on the employee as compared to, the LOA. In particular, these enhanced obligations on the relevant foreign employees include (i) not leaving their place of residence; (ii) downloading WhatsApp on their mobile phones and replying to the MOM’s phone calls, WhatsApp video calls or SMSes within 1 hour; and (iii) not having any visitors to their place of residence and minimising contact with others (Additional Conditions).
Further, from 11.59 pm on 18 February 2020, employers with foreign employees who have travelled to mainland China within the last 14 days before arrival in Singapore must do the following:
(i) ensure that it can comply with the additional obligations to bring such foreign employees into Singapore, including:
Before the relevant foreign employees leave for Singapore:
(A) ensuring there is a place of residence such as private housing, hotels or dormitories secured for them to serve their SHN. If such accommodation is a private residence or housing development board flat, the employer must obtain the landlord’s written consent to house them throughout the SHN; and
(B) ensuring that the relevant foreign employees each have a SIM card with a Singapore telephone number for the MOM to contact them.
After arrival of the relevant foreign employees in Singapore:
(A) to ensure that they understand and are fully able to comply with the Additional Conditions imposed for the SHN;
(B) arrange transportation for such foreign employees from the airport directly to their place of residence to serve the SHN immediately upon arrival in Singapore; and
(C) arrange for provision of food and other daily essentials as well as non-emergency medical needs to the affected foreign employees. In addition, it should be noted that a work pass holder is responsible for their dependants (if they are not employed) and their obligations in relation to such dependants are largely similar to the obligations of an employer with regard to a work pass holder as set out above. If a work pass holder is not able to comply with these obligations, they should not bring their dependants into Singapore.
(ii) obtain the MOM’s approval prior to the entry of the foreign employee and his/her dependants (if applicable). Adjustments has been made by the MOM to the approval system such that applications from 12.01 pm on a particular day till 12pm on the following day (Day 2) will be for arrivals within the next 7 days after Day 2. A new application will need to be made if there is a change in the declared arrival date of the worker. If approval is not obtained, the foreign employee and his/her dependants (if applicable) should not enter Singapore.
Employers are encouraged to permit employees on an LOA/SHN to work from home or to provide additional paid annual leave to such employees for the LOA /SHN period if it is not possible to work from home. Additionally, if the foregoing arrangements are not feasible, employers are also encouraged to consider permitting employees to utilize their leave entitlements such as hospitalisation leave, outpatient sick leave, annual leave, childcare or family care leave.
Those who fail to comply with the SHN may face penalties and can be prosecuted under Section 21A of the IDA. In particular, enforcement measures may include criminal proceedings, revocations of work passes and withdrawal of work pass privileges.
The MOM has demonstrated utilization of such enforcement measures. For example, the MOM announced on 13 February 2020 that it had revoked the work passes of two foreign employees (with travel history to mainland China within the past 14 days) after they entered Singapore prior to their applications to return being approved by the MOM. The workers were repatriated within 24 hours and permanently banned from working in Singapore, while the work pass privileges of their employers have been suspended for 1 year.
Employers can apply to the MOM for financial support pursuant to the Leave of Absence Support Programme to mitigate the financial impact of the LOA and SHN.
Employers can also require all employees to provide a health and travel declaration to confirm whether they have travelled to mainland China or if they have upcoming plans to travel to mainland China.
Further, the MOM, the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation have also issued an advisory to recommend appropriate workplace measures for employers to continue running their operations while minimizing the risk of community spread of the COVID-19 . The suggested measures include implementing Business Continuity Plans involving:
The Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore (PDPC) has also released an advisory on Collection of Personal Data for COVID-19 Contact Tracing, which provides that all relevant personal data can be collected, used and disclosed without consent in order to carry out contact tracing and other response measures in relation to a COVID-19 case. This is necessary to respond to an emergency that threatens the life, health or safety of other individuals. Further, organisations may also collect visitors’ NRIC, FIN or passport numbers to accurately identify individuals for this purpose. Organisations should note however that they are still required to comply with other data protection provisions set out in the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (No. 26 of 2012), including to protect the personal data in their possession from unauthorized access or disclosure by making reasonable security arrangements.
In summary, employers and employees should ensure that they work together to comply with the various obligations and advisories given the various penalties that may be imposed. Additionally, it is recommended that both employers and employees regularly check the MOM and the MOH websites for the latest updates and advisories and to adopt the recommended measures proposed therein.
- Rejection of New Work Pass Applications
- Quarantine Orders
- Leave of Absence / Stay-Home Notice
- Health and Travel Declaration
- splitting team arrangements particularly frontline staff who can be deployed according to different work schedules or at different work sites whilst permitting backend staff to work from home. The teams should be physically segregated to avoid the risk of infection between teams with employers to cross-train employees and establish covering arrangements to minimise disruption;
- implementing measures to safeguard the well-being of their employees by, inter alia, requiring them to take their temperature regularly and at least twice daily and providing frontline staff with masks if they are taking temperatures of customers; and
- providing special attention to older employees, pregnant employees and employees who have underlying medical conditions in planning work operations or work schedules.
By Katherine Chew
Disclaimer: DLA Piper is restricted for regulatory reasons from practicing local law in Singapore, as are most international law firms. Where advice on Singapore law is required, we will work with a local firm to provide such advice while leveraging our own knowledge and experience as international counsel in international advisory and transactional work.