SINGAPORE: When Mr Jamin McKee found out that his father’s health was worsening, the Singapore-based New Zealander asked his then-employer in September last year if he could return to his home country to spend time with his family and work remotely from there.
The Employment Pass (EP) holder, who has been trying to gain permanent resident (PR) status for the past few years, said that his request to work remotely was rejected. The firm wanted him to take no-pay leave instead.
“They wouldn’t let me (leave Singapore) for extended periods of time, even though my work could be completely done remotely,” said the 25-year-old account manager.
Taking no pay leave was not an option for him as he would have to be in New Zealand for the medium to long-term period — too long for him to go without drawing a salary.
He thus quit his job after a year to join a Singapore-based tech media firm in November last year. His new company is flexible in allowing him to travel and work from overseas, as long as he gets his own health insurance back in New Zealand.
Due to the uncertainties in travel at the start of this year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was only in May that he returned to New Zealand, where he stayed for four and a half months until his father’s condition improved.
“I did a quarantine in New Zealand for 14 days and (my company) told me to just work through it,” he said. “Because of the flexibility I was able to go home during the pandemic.”
He added that his work was...
The Department of Health and Human Services capped off a week of intensive anti-fraud activity with the launching of a six-month healthcare False Claims Act self-disclosure pilot program in partne...