It depends on the i) purpose of termination, and ii) timing of termination. In Singapore, all employees covered by the Employment Act are guaranteed at least 14 days of outpatient medical leave, and 60 days of inpatient medical leave, as long as you've been employed at the job for at least 3 months. This is a legal entitlement and you can't be denied this by your employer.
In the context of an employee on medical leave, it's illegal to terminate such an employee with the express purpose of depriving them of their medical leave entitlements. So if you're hospitalised for 6 weeks, your employer can't just suddently relieve you of your services to save on paying your salary.
The timing of the termination also affects the legality of removing an employee while they're on medical leave. Let's say you need to be hospitalised for 60 days. Since the minimum legal entitlement for hospital leave is 60 days, your employer can't terminate you during this period if their intent is to stop you from drawing your salary. If they try to argue that it's due to other reasons (e.g. the termination had actually been decided a long time ago, or you had recently shown poor work performance), then they would have to prove that these reasons were legitimate. It's usually difficult for employers to convincingly make such arguments. It's quite apparent that something else is going on if the employee's relationship with the employer had been fine all along, but the minute the employee fell ill, the company soured on the employee.
To learn more, read about whether employers can terminate employees on medical leave.
It depends on the i) purpose of termination, and ii) timing of termination. In Singapore, all employees covered by the Employment Act are guaranteed at least 14 days of outpatient medical leave, and 60 days of inpatient medical leave, as long as you've been employed at the job for at least 3 months. This is a legal entitlement and you can't be denied this by your employer.
In the context of an employee on medical leave, it's illegal to terminate such an employee with the express purpose of depriving them of their medical leave entitlements. So if you're hospitalised for 6 weeks, your employer can't just suddently relieve you of your services to save on paying your salary.
The timing of the termination also affects the legality of removing an employee while they're on medical leave. Let's say you need to be hospitalised for 60 days. Since the minimum legal entitlement for hospital leave is 60 days, your employer can't terminate you during this period if their intent is to stop you from drawing your salary. If they try to argue that it's due to other reasons (e.g. the termination had actually been decided a long time ago, or you had recently shown poor work performance), then they would have to prove that these reasons were legitimate. It's usually difficult for employers to convincingly make such arguments. It's quite apparent that something else is going on if the employee's relationship with the employer had been fine all along, but the minute the employee fell ill, the company soured on the employee.
To learn more, read about whether employers can terminate employees on medical leave.