Bad News

My boss called me from Fairfax yesterday night to discuss about my returning to work earlier than planned. It was all bad news.

2 months ago, when I had informed her that I will be going back to Singapore earlier cause I had become pregnant, she had kept my hopes high by saying that she will get me a short term project assignment so I can work for a few months before having my baby in December.

After 2 months of no news, I was finally told yesterday that I won’t be able to go back to work in September. Because the HR guidelines in Singapore doesn’t allow me to shorten my unpaid leave application, and it doesn’t allow my bosses to “create” a short term project work for me just because I want to shorten my unpaid leave. To cut the long story short, HR did not want to set precedence for other employees by being lenient with my case. I had applied for unpaid leave until 31 Jan 2010. So that was when I could go back to work. Which means I will be jobless for more 5 months when I get back to Singapore next week.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was further informed me that I won’t be eligible for my 4 months maternity leave. Because the government regulation is that I need to work for 90 continuous days before I deliver my baby in order to qualify for the leave. There goes another 4 more months of income. So total I will lose 9 months of income. Which is a whole damn lot of money!! Sigh..

K and I are exploring the possibility of having the baby here in NZ and not going back to SG.. Initially, one of the main reasons why we wanted to go back to SG to have the baby is because of the 4 months paid maternity plus my job. But now there is one less reason to go back.

If I am to go back to SG, I will definitely have to change my lifestyle. No more social life and meeting up with friends for coffee or shopping. No more nice fancy meals at restaurants.. The baby will also cost us a bomb so need to save up for that. Talk about going back to the harsh reality of life! I don’t want my holiday to end!! = (

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