AWARE refers to the report on “Singapore Girls may finally get maternity benefit” (ST, Sept 10) and are glad that some steps are being taken in the right direction. Nonetheless, the report begs the question about the validity of contractual clauses which require pregnant women to resign.

The report stated that Singapore Airlines (“SIA”) requires its female flight attendants to quit flying after the first trimester of pregnancy (“Quit Flying Requirement”). The reported effect is to deprive female attendants of all maternity benefits unless they can secure ground jobs, which are not easy to get. It appears that pregnant female attendants also lose their jobs. We understand that other airline companies may have similar contractual provisions. At first sight, these provisions are discriminatory and unfair.

The report raises some questions:

What is SIA’s basis for imposing the Quit Flying Requirement?
b) If the basis is solely to protect female attendants or foetuses, can this not be achieved in a fairer way by providing alternative employment for female attendants during pregnancy and allowing them to fly again after their pregnancy?
We hope SIA will respond to these questions.

The report raises some legal issues as well.

AWARE has not had sight of the terms of SIA’s employment contract with its female flight attendants. But we question if such practices should be allowed under our employment statutes which provide for maternity benefits to be paid to employees whose contracts are terminated within 6 months of their confinement.
We note that the Employment Act also prohibits employers from contracting out of their statutory obligations.

If the Quit Flying Clause and similar requirements imposed by other companies are valid, then is there a serious loophole in the law which should be rectified to ensure compliance with the national policy of encouraging childbirth and eliminating gender discrimination?

Further, these requirements are contrary to the principles of the Fair Employment Practices Guidelines that companies should “treat employees fairly and with respect and implement progressive human resource management systems’ and ” provide employees with equal opportunity to help them achieve their full potential”.

We hope that MOM will provide guidelines on these points, and take the necessary action to ensure that pregnant women are not discriminated against by employers through the clever use of contractual clauses which effectively result in the denial of maternity benefits.

Corinna Lim
Executive Director, AWARE

This letter was also published in the Straits Times