Singapore lifts vaccine mandate for workers

Employers, however, are still permitted to implement their own vaccine policy

BY Dexter Tilo 26 Apr 2022

Unvaccinated employees are now allowed to return to Singapore's workplaces starting April 26, according to state's Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF).

It comes as the MTF lifted Singapore's Workforce Vaccination Measures (WVM), which was put in place to prevent unvaccinated staff from returning on-site since the beginning of the year.

"The WVM were necessary amidst rising daily caseloads to reduce the strain on our healthcare capacity and to lower the risks of severe illnesses among the unvaccinated," the Ministry of Manpower said in an advisory.

"We are now in a better position to ease the WVM, and make further progress towards living with COVID-19," it announced.

It follows the MTF's announcement that it is also lifting the Vaccination Differentiated Safe Management Measures in all settings except for:

Events/settings with more than 500 participants at any one time
Nightlife establishments that offer dancing
Food and beverage (F&B) establishments.

Despite this, however, MOM said that employers may still implement their own vaccine policy for staff as part of company policy.

"Taking into consideration the workplace health and safety and operational needs of their respective companies or sectors, employers may implement vaccination-differentiated requirements for their employees as a matter of company policy and in accordance with employment law," it explained.

For unvaccinated employees, employers have the prerogative to:

Redeploy them to other suitable jobs if such jobs are available, with remuneration commensurate with the responsibilities of the alternative jobs
Place them on no-pay leave based on mutually agreeable terms
As a last resort after exploring options above, terminate their employment (with notice) in accordance with the employment contract. If the termination of employment is due to employees' inability to be at the workplace to perform their contracted work, such termination of employment would not be considered as wrongful dismissal.

MOM reminded that should employers implement a vaccine policy, it should be explained clearly to affected employees and unions to avoid potential dispute.

"Employers should also consider the duration for which, and the specific roles or settings in which, it is necessary to maintain such policies," advised MOM.

Meanwhile, MOM still told employers to keep encouraging unvaccinated employees to get the jabs and provide them paid time-off and additional paid sick leave should their staff decide to get vaccinated.

"We have made significant progress in our fight against COVID-19. The tripartite partners urge all employers and employees to continue to work together to control the spread of COVID-19 and facilitate a safe reopening of our society and economy."

The reminder came as 83.6% of Singapore's firms attained 100% vaccine coverage, with 98.5% of the total workforce vaccinated, according to government data as of April 17.