Mr Coconut Responds After Ex-Employee Alleges Wrongful Termination Due To Pregnancy
Mr Coconut has denied claims by a former employee that she was wrongly terminated due to her pregnancy.
On 18 Jan, Ms Charissa Tan made a Facebook post alleging that Mr Coconut had fired her after she declared her pregnancy.
She claimed in the post that her termination came a day after her declaration and that she was told by human resources (HR) she was being dismissed for “poor performance”.
In the company’s findings published on Wednesday (7 Feb), it noted that Ms Tan had been on probation at the time of her dismissal. It was not aware of her pregnancy when it decided not to confirm her employment.
According to Mr Coconut, she had also taken 12.5 days of leave during probation and was seen watching a movie on her mobile phone during work hours.
Mr Coconut ex-employee claims unjust treatment due to pregnancy
Ms Tan’s original post on 18 Jan claimed she was “subjected to unjust treatment” at Mr Coconut due to her pregnancy.
She shared that she’d declared her pregnancy to her manager on 16 Jan and was terminated a day later.
Ms Tan addressed the reasons for her termination, namely:
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Fragile health condition
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Poor job performance
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Subpar body posture at work
She explained that she was taking unpaid leave due to Covid-19.
Additionally, Ms Tan showed a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with her manager stating that her performance was “okay”.
Explaining her posture, Ms Tan claimed she had been feeling unwell at work and rested her head on the table.
HR then told her she should go home if she was feeling unwell. Ms Tan said she had indeed been resting her head at her desk — but only during lunch hour.
Ms Tan then claimed she was terminated because she was pregnant.
She further claimed that she wasn’t given notice regarding her performance while she was employed at the company.
“Is it really wrong to get pregnant? Would I have been able to keep the job if I was a man?” she questioned.
Company launches investigations into matter
The official Mr Coconut Facebook page left a comment, stating the company would look into her allegations.
Ms Tan responded that she would be “fully willing to cooperate with any investigation”.
Source: Charissa Tan on Facebook
On Wednesday, Mr Coconut stated it had completed its investigations.
It claimed that despite claiming on Facebook that she would help out with the investigations, Ms Tan suddenly refused to cooperate later.
Source: Mr Coconut Singapore on Facebook
Mr Coconut proceeded with investigations while telling Ms Tan that it would leave its line open for her to cooperate.
Ex-employee was on probation, notice can be given with 24 hours’ notice
In it statement, Mr Coconut said that Ms Tan joined the company on 7 Nov 2023 as a Customer Service Officer on three months’ probation.
Either party may terminate their contract with a 24-hour notice.
At the time of Ms Tan’s termination, she was not a confirmed employee.
Mr Coconut also noted that the decision was made to terminate her contract before she declared her pregnancy on 16 Jan.
“No one had any reason to believe or suspect that Ms Tan was pregnant,” the company said, noting she was still “heavily smoking” according to CCTV footage.
It had put up a job advertisement on 15 Jan.
Company had concerns over leave taken & job performance
Mr Coconut further stated that, according to Ms Tan’s contract, she was entitled to 14 days of annual leave after completing her probation.
However, she’d taken 12.5 days of leave at the time of her termination.
Mr Coconut did not state if these leave days were paid or unpaid.
Ms Tan had said she’d taken unpaid leave, although the number of days she took is unknown.
The company also addressed her post’s suggestion that her job performance was satisfactory.
In contrast, investigations revealed that Ms Tan was not just lying down on the table to rest, but she was watching a movie on her mobile phone during office hours.
“This was not during lunch hour or nearing the end of the day as alleged in Ms Tan’s Facebook post,” Mr Coconut said.
CCTV screenshots show Ms Tan resting her head on the table at 10.09am on 5 Dec 2023.
Source: Mr Coconut on Facebook
She is later shown watching a movie on her mobile phone at 10.40am.
Source: Mr Coconut on Facebook
Upon zooming in, it appears that Ms Tan had propped her mobile phone on her laptop and was watching a movie at her desk at the time.
Source: Mr Coconut on Facebook
Ex-employee files complaint
According to Mr Coconut, Ms Tan has filed a complaint with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM).
She is also attempting to claim “in excess of S$53,000” from the company.
It noted this amount is nearly 18 times her monthly remuneration of S$3,000.
Furthermore, Ms Tan’s report to TADM noted that she was dismissed for poor performance in her termination letter, but the actual termination letter makes no reference to this.
Source: Charissa Tan on Facebook
She has also stated she won’t provide any information to Mr Coconut without the presence of TADM.
Mr Coconut shared WhatsApp text screenshots between Ms Tan and her direct superior that showed she would “make this a big [hoo-ha]”, referencing her termination.
Source: Mr Coconut on Facebook
Ms Tan had not shown the full conversation on Facebook, the company said.
Company denies allegations
“Following Mr Coconut’s investigations, we find no basis whatsoever to such grave allegations that Ms Charissa Tan had levelled against Mr Coconut,” it noted.
The company again invited Ms Tan to provide further clarifications and make a statutory declaration with her allegations.
At this juncture, we would like to emphasise that, as an organisation, we take a firm stance against any form of discriminatory employment practices and will not shy away from dealing with any such allegations fairly and openly.
In response to Mr Coconut’s post, Ms Tan said she isn’t allowed to share what happened at TADM on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately we are unable to come to a conclusion today, and the matter has been further escalated,” she wrote.
Also read: Stickies Bar Employees Allege Late Salary Payments Since Mid-2023 & Mass Terminations Amid Closures
Stickies Bar Employees Allege Late Salary Payments Since Mid-2023 & Mass Terminations Amid Closures
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and Mr Coconut on Facebook.
