Singapore Airlines will no longer fire expecting flight attendants

Singapore Airlines has announced a change to a longstanding controversial policy, meaning it will no longer sack pregnant flight attendants.

Singapore Airlines would previously put cabin crew members on unpaid leave when it found out they were pregnant. Once the staff member had the baby, they would be told to quit.

Staff members looking to get their job back would have to apply again for their jobs under a returning-employee scheme, but there was no guarantee of re-employment.

However, the policy change within the airline means pregnant cabin crew members will receive unpaid leave for 16 weeks before being automatically put back on the next flight roster. This update came from a memo sent to staff and reported on in the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times that the airline will “further support our cabin crew during and after their pregnancy.”

Pregnant staff can temporarily move into ground jobs, such as handling customer feedback or administrative work.

Singapore Airlines will now offer a one-year contract renewal for temporary staff whose contract will expire while on leave.

The policy change comes after over a decade of campaigning by women’s rights groups in Singapore, who heavily criticised the airline for discrimination and pushed for working rights and job security for expecting mothers. Among them is the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), who welcomed the “overdue” policy change.

“We welcome SIA’s long overdue policy change, one that we had previously flagged.

“While this a positive change, we hope SIA continues to support working mothers by allowing more flexible work arrangements and revising its restrictive grooming standards,” AWARE wrote on Twitter.

We welcome SIA's long overdue policy change, one that we had previously flagged in 2010 due to its discriminatory nature. The previous policy terminated female cabin crew post-childbirth hampering women both in their professional and personal prospects.https://t.co/FGEydzrwBD
— AWARE Singapore (@awarenews) October 10, 2022

Singapore Airlines wrote in a statement to the Singaporean website Mothership: “Singapore Airlines supports our cabin crew during and after their pregnancy. Expecting cabin crew may choose to work in a temporary ground attachment from the time they declare the pregnancy till before the delivery.

“This may range between a minimum of three months to nine months. These cabin crew will resume their flying duties at the end of their maternity leave. We continue to work hard to retain our talented people, and invest in them, so that they can deliver the world-class service that SIA is renowned for.”

Featured Image: Singapore Airlines flight attendants (iStock/kokkai)

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