Annual Leave and Public Holidays in Singapore

Employees are entitled to paid annual leaves after working with their employer for at least three months.

Contributing Advisor

David Stepat

Managing Director,

Sick leave

The employee is entitled to paid sick leave if:

• The employee is covered under the Employment Act;
• The employee has served the employer for at least 3 months; and
• The employee has tried to inform the employer within 48 hours of their absence.

The number of days of paid sick leave and paid hospitalization leave depends on how long the employee has worked in the company.

Medical certificates (MC) issued by doctors and dentists registered under the Medical Registration Act, 1997 and the Dental Registration Act, 1999 are now recognized by employers. This provides employees with the convenience to visit doctors closer to home. However, this policy does not impact the reimbursement of medical consultation fees. Employers are only required to reimburse fees from government doctors or company-approved doctors.

Maternity leave

Only Singaporean residents are entitled to paid maternity leave. The length is usually 12 weeks but if the child is a Singaporean citizen, then 16 weeks of maternity in provided.

There are other conditions that must be fulfilled to receive maternity leave:

• The mother must be legally married to the father;
• Employment must have begun at least three months before the birth of the child; and
• The first eight weeks of maternity leave are paid by the employer, and the next eight weeks by the government.

Paternity leave

Eligible working fathers, including those who are self-employed, are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave funded by the Government.

Eligibility

As a working father, employees are entitled to Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL) for all births if you meet the following requirements:

• Your child is a Singapore citizen.
• You are or had been lawfully married to the child’s mother between conception and birth.
• The employee has served the employer for a continuous period of at least 3 months before the birth of your child.
• Self-employed individuals who have been engaged inwork for a continuous period of at least 3 months before the birth of your child, and have lost income during the paternity leave period are also entitled to GPPL.

Public holidays

Employees under the EA are entitled to 11 paid public holidays per year. If an employee must work on a public holiday, they can receive an extra day’s salary or be granted a day off in lieu.

If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following day is usually declared a public holiday, unless the Monday itself is already a public holiday. If a public holiday falls on a Saturday, the government will declare a school holiday the following Monday.

Employees who have to work on a public holiday will be entitled to an extra day’s salary at the basic rate of pay, in addition to their gross rate of pay for that day. Alternatively, employers, with the employee’s consent, can substitute the employee’s day off with another working day.

Employers also have the option of granting time-off-in-lieu, based on a mutually agreed number of hours, for working on a public holiday for the following group of employees:

• Workmen earning more than $4,500 a month;
• Non-workmen earning more than $2,600 a month; and
• All managers and executives.

Singapore’s public holiday schedule for 2023

The Ministry of Manpower’s (MoM) dates for the 2023 public holidays are: