Work Life Balance: Walking the Talk, or Talked & Walk Away?
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MediaCorp drops pregnant Zoe Tay
Mon, Jul 30, 2007
AsiaOne
MediaCorp has suspended the contract of Caldecott Hill Queen Zoe Tay, who is seven months pregnant.
Ms Tay, 39, who is expecting her second baby, said that under the company's new policy, pregnant actresses are suspended from work but they will be reinstated when they resume work.
Gracing the latest cover of Citta bella, Ms Tay told the Chinese women's magazine that she is now "jobless" and confessed that she felt "troubled" about the situation as she currently has no income.
She said her main concern now is getting her job back after having the baby, who is due in October.
The actress, who has been married for six years to pilot Philip Chionh, also 39, found out that she was pregnant during the Chinese New Year period in February, but chose to announce the good news only after her first trimester.
The couple have a two-year-old son, Brayden.
She was able to continue working during her first pregnancy in 2004, and hosted an infotainment programme educating women on the dos-and-don'ts when having a baby.
Asked if she would consider becoming a full-time mum, the former model-turned-actress said: "No way! I still need to work for myself. So long as the job gives me time to look after my children, I will not become a full-time mum."
She added: "It's not easy being a full-time mum."
Another MediaCorp star, Ms Huang Biren, who is also pregnant, apparently can continue to work because she is being covered by an old contract.
Now two months pregnant with her second child, Miss Huang, who has a seven-year-old son, told Shin Min Daily news that she has not suffered the same fate as Ms Tay and is "still getting her normal salary."
"My current contract is an old one which I signed with MediaCorp four years ago," she said. "It will expire next year after I have given birth, which means I can continue to work even while I am pregnant."
Ms Huang said she is among a small group of artistes who are still on the old contract. Most of the others either renew or sign new contracts which carry the clause that actresses who get pregnant midway through their contacts will be dropped. -
Originally posted by HyperFocal:
We can always be assured of new topics in the morning.
[b]MediaCorp drops pregnant Zoe Tay
Mon, Jul 30, 2007
AsiaOne
MediaCorp has suspended the contract of Caldecott Hill Queen Zoe Tay, who is seven months pregnant.
Ms Tay, 39, who is expecting her second baby, said that under the company's new policy, pregnant actresses are suspended from work but they will be reinstated when they resume work.
Gracing the latest cover of Citta bella, Ms Tay told the Chinese women's magazine that she is now "jobless" and confessed that she felt "troubled" about the situation as she currently has no income.
She said her main concern now is getting her job back after having the baby, who is due in October.
The actress, who has been married for six years to pilot Philip Chionh, also 39, found out that she was pregnant during the Chinese New Year period in February, but chose to announce the good news only after her first trimester.
The couple have a two-year-old son, Brayden.
She was able to continue working during her first pregnancy in 2004, and hosted an infotainment programme educating women on the dos-and-don'ts when having a baby.
Asked if she would consider becoming a full-time mum, the former model-turned-actress said: "No way! I still need to work for myself. So long as the job gives me time to look after my children, I will not become a full-time mum."
She added: "It's not easy being a full-time mum."
Another MediaCorp star, Ms Huang Biren, who is also pregnant, apparently can continue to work because she is being covered by an old contract.
Now two months pregnant with her second child, Miss Huang, who has a seven-year-old son, told Shin Min Daily news that she has not suffered the same fate as Ms Tay and is "still getting her normal salary."
"My current contract is an old one which I signed with MediaCorp four years ago," she said. "It will expire next year after I have given birth, which means I can continue to work even while I am pregnant."
Ms Huang said she is among a small group of artistes who are still on the old contract. Most of the others either renew or sign new contracts which carry the clause that actresses who get pregnant midway through their contacts will be dropped.
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What happened to you yesterday? Didn't see any new topics yesterday.
Think someone else already beat you to this topic, "Zoe Tay up lorry". -
They make the rules, so they can bend the rules...
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ZOE TAY TELLS MAGAZINE:
I'm pregnant so, I won't get paid
By Ho Lian-Yi
August 01, 2007
THERE is a 'new system' at MediaCorp in which artistes will have their contracts suspended during pregnancy, to be re-instated only after that.
Starlet Zoe Tay with her son Brayden. She was paid while she was pregnant with him, but is now under a new contract.
Actress Zoe Tay, 39, said this in an interview with Citta Bella magazine.
'So right now, I'm not drawing a salary,' she said.
Zoe, whose second child is due in October, told the magazine that it was her only concern about her current pregnancy and that she was at first troubled over the arrangement.
She also told Citta Bella that she still wants to have more babies. But her husband said two is enough.
During her first pregnancy in 2004, she was working - hosting an infotainment programme about babies. She was still under her former contract, so it was not suspended.
But are such conditions permitted in employment contracts in the first place?
Apparently, they are legal - but notcommon.
Ms Anuradha Tiwary, a lawyer who has dealt with employment disputes, said that the Employment Act has a provision that says you can't sack or dismiss an employee who is more than five months pregnant.
But she said that there is no provision in the Act for a suspension, like Zoe's.
She added that if 'it's something that is not provided for and both parties agree to it, then there is nothing illegal about it - fair or unfair is not an issue'.
Mr Paul Heng, founder of career outplacement firm Next Career Consulting Group Asia, said he has never heard of such clauses. 'This is rather unique to me,' he said.
Mr David Ang, the executive director of Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), said it was important to make a distinction between 'contract of service' and 'contract for service'.
Contract of service is your typical work contract.
As long as you have worked for at least six months, you will be paid a salary during your pregnancy.
In a 'contract for service', you are contracted to do a certain job or service. For example, you could be contracted to write a book.
In this case, one could stipulate that if no work is done, there'll be no pay.
Mr Ang said there are several situations where it is reasonable for a contract for service to stipulate suspension because of pregnancy - such as if the job entails activities that could endanger the child's life.
However, he added that it was difficult to comment on Zoe's case unless he knew the contract details.
Zoe was not available for comment. Her artiste manager, Carolyn Chong, said that as artistes' contracts are confidential, they will not be able to comment.
However, Ms Ivy Low, assistant vice-president at MediaCorp's artiste management division, was quoted on MediaCorp news website xin.sg as saying that she was not told that Zoe's contract was suspended and she was still arranging work for her.
She added that when an artiste is pregnant, her looks and stamina are affected, so the amount of work she gets will decrease.
Two MediaCorp artistes, who were recently pregnant, said they do not have such clauses in their contracts and they were still paid.
One of them was Joey Swee, 30. She gave birth to a baby boy last September, and was pregnant while she was on a previous contract, signed around 2004.
She said that if she was given one in her contract, she would 'respect the company's decision'.
Acting is different from other deskbound jobs, she said, because there may be strenuous physical exertion involved. 'We don't have any other choice,' she said.
Huang Biren, who confirmed she was pregnant with her second child just a week ago, said she will still be paid during her pregnancy.
'I don't know how similar or different my contract is (to Zoe Tay's) because we don't discuss these things.
'All I know is my contract was signed four years ago. I wouldn't know about Zoe.'
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