SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old employee at a national healthtech agency has alleged that his manager told him he was a “burden to the team” after he sought approval to take “no-pay leave” due to a rare and serious medical condition known as “severe serotonin syndrome.”
The allegation was shared in a detailed post on the r/askSingapore forum, where the worker recounted a series of encounters with management that he said amounted to “discrimination” and ultimately led to his decision to leave the organisation.
According to the employee, his health took a sharp turn at the end of November when he collapsed at work due to complications arising from his condition. He was hospitalised for three weeks, spending two weeks in the intensive care unit and one week in a general ward.
Following his discharge, his doctor advised him to stop working “at least until the end of the year” to allow his body sufficient time to recover.
Despite this medical advice, the worker said he returned to the office shortly after his discharge as he was “very worried” about the impact his absence might have on his work and responsibilities. However, after approximately two weeks, his condition deteriorated again.
“I started experiencing similar symptoms of serotonin syndrome again. I got worried, and during my lunch break, I rushed to my doctor. My doctor gave me medication immediately.” He added that the medication caused significant drowsiness and nausea, further affecting his ability to work.
When he eventually approached his manager to seek permission to take leave, having already exhausted all his medical leave, the conversation allegedly took a distressing turn.
“I told him the following: I am currently ill and need to go off work for the day. My doctor ordered me to rest until the end of the year, so I will be away until then, and since I have exhausted my MCs, I will use no-pay leave, and I apologise for any inconvenience,” the worker wrote.
“I also expressed that I hoped I wasn’t being too much of a burden to him and the team, as I felt really bad, and asked him to allow me to recover and said I would be back to normal in January, and I hoped he understood my situation.”
However, instead of receiving support, the worker alleged that his manager reacted dismissively. According to his account, the manager smirked before responding coldly: “Yes, you are a burden.”
The employee further alleged that the remarks did not end there. He claimed his manager expressed scepticism about his recovery, sarcastically told him to take as much no-pay leave as he wanted, and added that once January arrived, he should use up all his “leave and MCs ASAP.”
The worker said the comments were particularly painful given his employment history with the agency.
“I feel discriminated against, especially since I had a good record for the past 3 years, and only this year became seriously ill. I exhausted all my MCs and had to use my annual leave. This was beyond my control; I did not “chao keng.”
“It makes matters worse that this is a government-linked medical organisation—I would expect them to understand medical conditions,” he wrote.
He also shared that earlier this year, he had attempted to resign after the agency removed its hybrid work arrangement, which previously allowed him to work from home on alternate days.
However, the human resources department rejected his resignation and instead transferred him to another department, where he was permitted to work from home only two days a month. It was in this department that he encountered the manager he later accused of making the “burden” remark.
The worker added that during the initial period after the transfer, he did not take any medical leave and only requested two hours of time off for a medical appointment.
Even so, he said he was questioned upon returning, with both the manager and director demanding to know why he had not disclosed his medical condition during the interview.
He said he has since decided to leave the agency, citing an inability to continue working in an environment where he felt he was treated as a liability.
“I cannot continue working for an organisation where I am deemed a burden, so I am going to leave my job. I will be jobless for some time, have medical bills to pay, and ageing parents to care for, so my source of income will be affected. I am quite lost on what I should do.”
Turning to the online community for guidance, he asked, “Given the discrimination I have faced, which has now caused me to face the predicament of being jobless, what should I do to get justice?”
“There was no discrimination; you just have hurt feelings.”
In the comments, several users urged him to escalate the matter to the agency’s human resources department.
One wrote, “Don’t quit. You’re not in a position to do that. Work with HR to figure out an alternative.”
Another advised, “Write an email about as much as you can remember, including the stuff you shared here.”
“Mention explicitly that in your time of grave sickness, what your superior mentioned and the way he said it to you felt like intimidation and coercion to make you leave on your own or face possible discrimination moving forward. Cc HR, your superior’s superior, and the director of your department, as well as one of your private emails.”
A third added, “The irony: working in healthcare with a health condition, yet your immediate superior is treating you badly, without empathy. Please sound it off to HR. Hope your condition gets better, and take care!”
Others, however, felt he should just leave quietly, believing that there wasn’t any real injustice beyond his manager’s harsh or unkind words. They suggested that making a big issue out of it might not be worth the trouble.
One pointed out to him, “What justice do you want? If you weren’t terminated and you resigned voluntarily, you can bring up your manager’s words and attitude/behaviour to HR.”
“Besides his mean words, was there any unjust treatment, like being overlooked for a promotion or having your job scope taken away? If you were terminated unfairly because of your medical condition, then yes, you can fight for your ‘justice.’”
Another wrote, “There was no discrimination; you just have hurt feelings.”
In other news, a foreigner took to social media to share his desire to volunteer for national service (NS), explaining that he has developed such a deep affection for Singapore that he now feels compelled to contribute and do something meaningful for the country.
Posting on the r/NationalServiceSG Reddit forum, the foreigner wrote, “I’m a British Employment pass holder, and I have fallen in love with Singapore. Every person I’ve encountered has been so nice to me. I like to give back and volunteer for national service.”
