Parents with children under 15 and other class of workers who need to apply for Special Leave can now do so at the newly opened office set up by the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status to ease the process.

The new regulation was put in place to help workers with children under the age of 15 who attend relevant educational institutions which have since March 16 closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newly introduced regulation permits certain categories of workers, including parents (father, mother or guardian with whom the child or children reside) with children enrolled in schools, workers on quarantine or in isolation as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in accordance with the directive of the health authorities, as well as workers whose work organisations are temporarily partially or wholly closed during the pandemic, to seek special leave from their employers, starting as of March 16, until the situation is normalised and school institutions resume their operations.

In line with the new regulations, the employment department has set up the new office to address any queries by members of the public in relation to the new COVID-19 Special Leave Regulations

The new office is located on the ground floor of the Independence House, in Victoria, next to the Immigration and Civil Status Customer Service office.

It has been operational since Tuesday and will operate from 8am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday and officers from the employment department will be available to assist members of the public with all enquiries related to the coronavirus special leave.

As the employment department is also following the advice of the department of health on social distancing, other than the new office, the department has also set up two hotlines to assist with additional information and queries related to the employment temporary regulation due to COVID-19.

The hotline numbers are 2 82 34 00 or 2 80 40 41.