Some BOS employees reportedly fired for medical benefits misuse

Some Bank of Singapore (BOS) employees have been terminated following reports of misuse of the company's medical benefits.

Up to 40 employees were reportedly terminated from the bank in the span of two days in the middle of April, according to reports from Channel News Asia (CNA) and eFinancialCareers.

The termination comes after BOS, which is the private banking arm of OCBC, carried out an investigation among hundreds of employees over reported irregularities in staff bank medical claims.

BOS has a medical benefit that allows employees to claim up to $10,500 for medical and dental expenses, such as outpatient consultation and medication issued by a general practitioner or specialist, non-aesthetic dental services, vaccinations, X-rays, and blood tests, The Straits Times reported.

However, some employees reportedly claimed unpermitted items such as supplements, bird's nests, and skincare products, the reports said.

There were no clear statements on how the investigation was launched, but The Straits Times reported that the probe commenced into employee medical claims involving Thompson & Thomson.

The clinic was reportedly in the bank's panel of approved clinics, but a spokesperson from Thompson & Thomson later told CNA that it was never in the BOS' list of panel clinics.

CNA's sources claimed that disciplinary hearings with some employees lasted for a few months.

As a result of the incident, some employees were terminated, and others were also reportedly asked to repay what they claimed.

Some employees involved were also stripped from the one-off support previously announced by OCBC Bank for its junior employees, according to CNA.