By Irene Tham

Mrs Chan has no regrets about starting a family. But she is stopping at two.

The 36-year-old, who did not want to give her full name for fear of being identified, blames that on the attitude of her two previous bosses.

The two small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) she worked for in the last five years were unhappy each time she applied for maternity leave.

One of her former bosses blamed her for a 'poor handover'.

Another firm cited her as 'a negative example' during job interviews with female candidates, who were made to promise not to start families for two years, she said.

The mother of two sons, aged 10 months and five years, now works in finance in a large organisation.

Since October 2008, better terms for new mothers have been legally enshrined. Maternity leave, for instance, rose from three to four months, while childcare leave was tripled to six days.

But while the law may be smiling kindly on mothers, bad experiences like that of Mrs Chan are not uncommon, as latest statistics from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) show.

It received a record 147 pregnancy and maternity-related complaints last year - the highest number since records began in 2004. There were 95 and 72 such complaints in 2008 and 2007 respectively. The spike came after maternity benefits were enhanced.

Many of the grievances concerned termination of employment during pregnancy or maternity leave. Three quarters of the complaints were against SMEs.

The recent economic downturn may have been a major factor, said Ms Ng Hwei Min, director of operations policy, compliance and corporate development at MOM's Labour Relations and Workplaces Division.

Most of the cases have been settled with MOM's mediation - with payments made to the women.

There will probably always be rogue firms which wilfully avoid their maternity benefits obligations.

But the MOM says it has also seen genuine cases of employers who were unclear of their obligations under the new laws.

Employers found guilty of denying employees their benefits have to pay them four months of salary.

But last year's record number of complaints might not paint the full picture, as other women may have kept silent for fear of damaging their careers.

Even those working in larger firms, take precautions.

'Four months is a long time to be away; a lot can take place,' said an executive assistant in an MNC who wanted to be known only as Madam Wong.

That is why when she went on maternity leave in January last year, she logged onto her company's network to reply to e-mail messages and 'stay in the loop'.

'If the temporary staff in your place can do better, your boss may replace you,' said the 35-year-old.

A survey by the National Trades Union Congress Women's Development Secretariat last July echoed these fears.

A quarter of 230 women surveyed said they were disadvantaged at work by the enhanced maternity benefits. Specifically, they felt that their performance appraisals were hit despite consistent good work. They feared being sidelined too.

And 13 per cent said they faced difficulties when applying for maternity leave due to anticipated work disruptions and unhappiness among colleagues who had to shoulder their workloads.

The 230 female respondents were unionised.

NTUC deputy secretary-general Halimah Yacob expects better days ahead.

'With the economy recovering and a tighter labour market, such incidents will decline,' she said.

But recruitment firm Robert Walters is not convinced.

Ms Annabel Ang, a senior consultant at the executive recruitment firm, said corporate culture has a more direct bearing on how pregnant employees are treated.

'If an organisation's culture is not supportive of pregnant women or working parents, it is unlikely that a recovering economy will have any impact,' she said.

This article is first published in The Straits Times.

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