Parents whose contracts expire, or who are retrenched, before they were able to finish using their adoption / flexible maternity leave / first two weeks of paternity leave, will get a top-up under the equivalent benefit scheme. This recognises that the circumstances of their employment termination are beyond their control.

The top-up will be computed depending on the type of employment termination:

• For contract expiry, any leave that could have been taken before contract expiry, but was not taken will be forfeited. The top-up will be computed based on the Government-Paid leave entitlement that remains after the contract expiry date.

• For retrenchment, the top-up will be computed based on any unconsumed Government-Paid leave.

Parents who resign before they have finished using their paternity / adoption / maternity leave will forfeit all unconsumed leave. Such parents would have made considered decisions to leave their jobs.

For union members, they should approach their union for assistance. Unions can submit an appeal against wrongful dismissal to the Minister of Manpower on members’ behalf, under Section 35 of the Industrial Relations Act, within one month from the last day of employment.

For non-union members, they should file a wrongful dismissal claim with the [Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM)] within one month from the last day of employment.

If the wrongful dismissal claims cannot be resolved at TADM, it will be referred to the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT). If the ECT judges that a dismissal is wrongful, the employer may be ordered to do one of the following:

• Reinstate employee to former job and pay for any income loss due to the wrongful dismissal.

• Pay employee a sum of money as compensation.

Female employees who have worked for the company for at least 3 months and were dismissed without sufficient cause while pregnant can file a claim with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM).