Special Leave Beyond Usual Childcare Leave for Parents when Schools and Childcare Centres Close for COVID-19-related Reasons

17 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Manpower when a childcare centre or a school is officially ordered to be closed because of links to COVID-19 cases (a) whether the Ministry can consider granting the parents special leave that is beyond the normal childcare leave so as to take care of the child under such circumstances; and (b) if so, whether the leave can cover the period that the childcare centre or school is closed.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, we recognise that working parents may have additional challenges when childcare centres or schools have to close temporarily due to links to COVID-19 cases.

Today, each working parent of a Singaporean child is eligible for up to six days of paid childcare leave if their child is under the age of seven years, or two days of paid extended childcare leave if their child is between seven and 12 years old. In addition, almost half of all employees in Singapore have more than 14 days of annual leave. Parents may wish to tap on these leave entitlements to cope with closures.

Any enhancements to leave, even if time-limited, will need to take into account the manpower and operational needs of the employers. A more sustainable way to support parents would be through providing more flexible work arrangements. Together with our tripartite partners, we have introduced Tripartite Standards on Flexible Work Arrangements, on Work-Life Harmony and on Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs, to encourage and guide employers in creating a work environment that helps parents manage their work and family responsibilities.

In the past year, more employers have also adopted flexible work arrangements such as flexible hours or remote work. These go a long way in helping parents and we encourage more employers to do so.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for the answer. I have one supplementary question and I think I should give the context about why I am asking the question.

I have a few residents who have asked in relation to some of the childcare centre closures because of COVID-19. They have been affected and the main reasons are varied. First, it affects a large number of parents at one go. Second, if we do face an endemic scenario, going forward, and we do see start-stop scenarios, there will be multiple childcare centre closures, particularly because of the third point I am going to mention, because childcare centres cover a segment of the population which are parents with children below 12 years of age and they are not vaccinated. So, the possibility or probability will be higher that the closures would be there.

Fourthly, some of the parents that came to me highlighted situations where the employers are not enlightened with regard to flexible work arrangements. In those type of scenarios, it does matter. My question to Senior Minister of State in relation to my Parliamentary Question is if we do see starts-stop endemic scenarios for the next one to two years, is it a possibility that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or multi-agencies will look into the fact we could provide special parents' leave or special childcare leave on top of the annual leave or childcare leave that is already in existence, because the centre closure might cover beyond 14 days or maybe up to a month?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for highlighting some of the practical challenges that working parents face, especially in the situation of the pandemic where some childcare centres may have to be affected and the child may have to be kept at home as a result of some clusters that may have developed in the childcare centres.

I must say that in the international space, at least as of this moment, not many countries that I know of would have introduced any additional leave or parental leave entitlement as a result of the pandemic. More often than not, there is a dependence more on flexible work arrangements because the situation evolves rapidly and also, different work arrangements may already be possible.

We must bear in mind that in the background, as of this point in time, about 93% of employers already have adopted some form of flexible work arrangements as a way to ensure business continuity, as part of the pandemic preparedness response. In the context of many employers already having some form of flexible work arrangements, it really is about having that thinking to work together to get past this particular hurdle. It is also in the employers' interests to make sure that any employee who may have a family member, even if it is a child, who may be at risk of transmitting or be in contact with a COVID-19 case, to also keep the employee away from work to make sure that he or she does not bring any potential infection into the workplace. And that is part of business continuity planning as well.

So, I do urge employers to adopt that flexible attitude to be enlightened, as the Member has said, that this is really a hump that we all got to get through together. If we take a very legalistic approach and only wait to act when there is guidance given, then I think we may be behind the curve in trying to deal with workplace transmission.

This is something that we hope that we will continue to be able to convince employers to do so. And if any employee feels that they are unfairly victimised or unfairly treated or discriminated as a result of their need to care for their child or their family, do highlight to MOM or the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices and we will take a look and engage the employer accordingly.