As Singapore takes its next step towards living with COVID-19, the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”), the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) (collectively, the “Tripartite Partners”) have issued a revised set of guidelines for employers on the COVID-19 measures to be implemented at the workplace applicable from 26 April 2022 which significantly relaxes the previous workplace safe management measures (the “MOM Guidance”)[1].
This post considers the MOM Guidance and other related guidance issued by the Ministry of Health (“MOH”)[2] and associated data privacy considerations under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (“PDPA”). It supersedes our previous post here.
Unvaccinated employees will no longer be prohibited by law from entering the workplace
With Singapore achieving one of the highest vaccination rates in the world (at 96% of its eligible population), the legal requirement for employees returning to the workplace to be fully vaccinated has been lifted from 26 April 2022. This means that unvaccinated employees are no longer prohibited by law from entering the workplace.
That said, taking into consideration workplace health and safety and operational needs , employers are given the flexibility to (continue to) implement vaccination-differentiated requirements for their employees, including disallowing unvaccinated employees from entering the workplace, as a matter of company policy and in accordance with employment...
Civil society, for Locke, begins with a surrender. In the state of nature, anyone may punish a wrong done to the community. In society, that power passes to a common authority, and only the sovere...