Redditer: Childcare centre confiscates our phones and says we cannot use them even during our break time. Is this legal in Singapore?

[Tree]

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Childcare centre confiscates our phones and says we cannot use them even during our break time. Is this legal in Singapore?​

General

I work in a childcare centre in Singapore, and management recently introduced a new rule that all teachers are not allowed to use handphones or smartwatches in any area where children are present. We are also required to surrender our personal phones to the centre when we arrive and only get them back when we leave for the day.

The reason given is to protect children’s privacy and to ensure teachers are supervising the children at all times.

I understand the concern about teachers using their phones while they are actively caring for children. That part is reasonable.

The issue is that our one-hour break is often spent in the classroom while the children are sleeping. We eat our lunch there, usually with the lights dimmed, and we are still expected to monitor the sleeping children.

Previously, this was the only time we had to reply to family messages, check our phones, watch a few videos, or simply switch off mentally for a while.

Now management says we are not allowed to use our phones during this break either because we are still responsible for supervising the children.

This makes me wonder whether this is truly considered a break. If I am still expected to watch the children, then am I actually on break at all?

If the centre says that break time does not mean phone usage, then does that mean I am free to leave the classroom, go out to buy food, sit in the staff room, or even take a nap for the full hour? Or are we expected to remain in the classroom and continue working while calling it a break?

Another question is whether an employer can require employees to surrender their personal phones for the entire workday.

Many childcare teachers already feel stretched very thin. We work around 9.5 hours a day, often with frequent overtime, high expectations from parents, and limited support from management.

This week alone, I have worked overtime on four separate days, and my total working hours are already well above 40 hours.

I am seriously considering writing to MOM to ask whether this practice is allowed, because it feels like teachers are expected to give more and more while having fewer and fewer rights.

Has anyone working in Singapore, especially in preschool or childcare, experienced something similar? Is this legal, and what options do employees have?

 

[syed putra]

Free your self from phone deprivation anxiety. The deep state got you under their control and soon, AI will monitor whatever you do.
Those poor children will end up in a life of enslavement and misery.

 

[eatshitndie]

they are preventing pedophiles from taking photos of young kids in vulnerable poses while pretending to be helpful in forwarding them to parents.