from the straits timesCALDECOTT queen Zoe Tay's contract with MediaCorp has been suspended.
Ms Tay, who is seven months pregnant, said that the company's new policy is to suspend the contracts of actresses who are pregnant. The contracts will be re-instated when they returned to work.
Chinese evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported that the 39-year-old actress feels troubled about the situation as she currently has no income.
This was not the case in 2004 when Ms Tay was pregnant with her first child.
During her first pregnancy, she hosted an infotainment programme educating women on the dos-and-don'ts when having a baby.
Ms Tay's second child is due in October.
Another MediaCorp star, Huang Biren, who is also pregnant, apparently can continue to work because she is being covered by an old contract.
Now two months pregnant with her second child, Ms Huang, who has a seven-year-old son, told Shin Min Daily news that she has not suffered the same fate as Ms Tay and is "still getting her normal salary."
"My current contract is an old one which I signed with MediaCorp four years ago," she said. "It will expire next year after I have given birth, which means I can continue to work even while I am pregnant."
Ms Huang said she is among a small group of artistes who are still on the old contract. Most of the others either renew or sign new contracts which carry the clause that actresses who get pregnant midway through their contacts will be dropped.