A hotel receptionist at J8 Hotel in Lavender Street has been sentenced to eight weeks’ jail on Tuesday (10 Aug) for turning up at work despite being given a medical certificate (MC) during the COVID-19 circuit breaker last year.
Chan Foo Mun, 44, pleaded guilty to two charges of flouting the Infectious Disease Act, while another five similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
It all started in April last year when a guest at his workplace tested positive for COVID-19. Following that, the boutique hotel informed all staff members who were sick to see a doctor and for those issued an MC to stay home.
For Chan’s case, he was issued an MC for five days after developing a cough and blocked nose.
Despite being told not to report in for work, he still went to work because he did not want his salary to be deducted. Soon after that, enforcement officers from the Ministry of Health (MOH) visited him, telling him to stay in his Ang Mo Kio flat.
However, he left his house the very next day to buy food at a hawker centre.
Although Chan did not test positive for COVID-19 at the end, but he was sentenced to jail for all the other offences he committed.
During the time when Chan committed his offences, Singapore was in the midst of the circuit breaker period that restricted movements and activities in order to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Those who visited clinics with acute respiratory infection symptoms had to undergo a swab test for COVID-19 and subsequently quarantine themselves at home for the entire five-day period.
Turned up for work for 3 days after issued MC
The court heard that Chan went to the Care Family Clinic branch near his workplace on 19 April last year.
He told the doctor that he had been experiencing a persistent cough and blocked nose for two to three days.
The doctor then instructed him to quarantine himself at home for the duration of the MC, stressing that he was not allowed to leave his house even to buy food.
Once the consultation was over, Chan was asked to wait outside the doctor’s room to get his MC and medication. However, he left without paying and went to work.
In fact, he continued going to work for three days and purposely did not tell his supervisor or colleagues that he had been issued an MC.
“The accused had done so because ‘it was troublesome’; the accused knew of the hotel’s policy in force and he did not want his pay to be deducted as a result of his inability to go to work,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kenneth Kee told the court.
If that’s not all, Chan also left his house for almost half a day to buy lunch, and even took public transport along the way after he visited the doctor.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage also showed him not wearing a face mask at the lift lobby of his HDB block.
DPP Kee sought at least three months’ jail, pointing out that Chan had “embarked on a deliberate course of action” that was in “reckless disregard of the public health and safety of others”.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said in sentencing Chan that she couldn’t accept his lawyer Cory Wong’s argument that Chan was not derelict in his duties.
“While I note the breaches were not committed due to frivolous reasons and he was concerned with his livelihood, this must be balanced with the fact that he was diagnosed with acute respiratory symptoms amid the circuit breaker, and he was prepared to place his own personal interests above the health of others whom he came into contact with,” she said.
Netizens call for employer to be punished for deducting salary of employees on MC
Upon reading this, online users expressed that an employer should be investigated or punished for the company’s policy of deducting employees’ salaries if they take MC, taking into account that Chan did not want his pay to be deducted as a result of his inability to go to work.
Penning their thoughts on the Facebook page of TODAY, netizens called for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to investigate the boutique hotel as workers should not get their salaries cut because it is in their rights to take MCs.
Others said that MOM should look into the matter of companies including MCs under its Appraisal of Employees as this situation forces workers to come to work even if they are not feeling well and was issued an MC.
A few others also shared examples of companies giving out “Attendance Allowance” to discourage workers from taking MCs.
One user said that employers should be checked to find out why are there so much fear instilled in workers as they are afraid to take MCs, noting that Singapore’s “employment law doesn’t protect employees at all”.
A handful others said that this is the “sad reality” of working in Singapore for many people as the practice of employers’ deducting workers’ wages is a practice that is very much happening here.
