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Taiwan - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Taipei

 

CLIMATE

Tropical and marine climate; rainy season during the southwest monsoon from June to August, and cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year.

 

LANGUAGES

Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), and Hakka dialects.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Taiwan’s legal system is based on civil law system. Taiwan accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations.

 

CURRENCY

Taiwan Dollar (1 USD = 34.57500 TWD as of May 15, 2002).

 

TAIWAN - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

TAIWAN - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

The United States does not have an Embassy in Taiwan. Unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people on Taiwan are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality - the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) - which has offices in the US and Taiwan.

 

American Institute in Taiwan – USA

1700 N. Moore Street, Suite 1700

Arlington, Virginia 22209-1996

Telephone: (703) 525-8474

Fax: (703) 841-1385

 

American Institute in Taiwan – Taipai

American Trade Center, Room 3208

International Trade Building

Taipei World Trade Center

333 Keelung Road Section 1

Taipei, Taiwan 10548

Telephone: [886] (2) 2720-1550

Fax: [886] (2) 2757-7162

 

American Institute in Taiwan – Kaohsiung

2 Chung Cheng 3rd Road, 5th Floor

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Telephone: [886] (7) 224-0154

Fax: [886] (7) 223-8237

 

Taiwan does not have an embassy in the United States. Unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of the U.S. are maintained through a private instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the U.S. with headquarters in Taipei and field offices in Washington and 12 other US cities.

 

TAIWAN - HOLIDAYS

 

TAIWAN - MINIMUM AGE

The Labor Standards Law (LSL) stipulates age 15, after compulsory education required by law ends, as the minimum age for employment.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, China (Taiwan only) – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

TAIWAN - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The minimum monthly wage is NT$15,840 (approximately $505). However, the average manufacturing wage is more than double the legal minimum wage, and the average for service industry employees is even higher.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, China (Taiwan only) – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

TAIWAN - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

TAIWAN - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

Although the Judicial Yuan (JY) ruled in 1995 that the right to organize trade unions is protected by the Constitution, legislation implementing this decision has not been passed; teachers, civil servants, and defense industry workers are not permitted to form labor unions. Even with this ruling, a number of laws and regulations limit the right of association. Labor unions may draw up their own rules and constitutions, but they must submit these to the authorities for review. Labor unions may be dissolved if they do not meet certification requirements or if their activities disturb public order. However, there were no instances of the authorities dissolving local labor groups or denying certification to new labor unions during the year.

 

The Labor Union Law requires that labor union leaders be elected regularly by secret ballot, and, in recent years, workers have sometimes rejected ruling party or management-endorsed union slates. During the year there were no reports of political interference in labor union affairs.

 

Labor unions may form confederations, but in the past no administrative district, including a city, county, or province, could have competing labor confederations. In 2000 the Government significantly eased restrictions on the right of association by recognizing three new island-wide labor federations: The Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (previously known as the National Federation of Industrial Unions), the Chinese Labor Unions Federation, and the National Trade Union Confederation. Nonetheless the percentage of workers who are labor union members has not increased in recent years in the face of a relatively low unemployment rate, higher wages, the shift from manufacturing to service industries, the small scale and poor organization of most unions, and past prosecution of labor activists by the authorities. As of March, some 2.9 million workers, approximately 30 percent of the 9.8 million-person labor force, belonged to 3,854 registered labor unions.

 

The law governing labor disputes recognizes the right of labor unions to strike but imposes restrictions that make legal strikes difficult and seriously weaken collective bargaining. For example, the authorities require mediation of labor/management disputes when they deem the disputes to be sufficiently serious or to involve "unfair practices." The law forbids both labor and management from disrupting the "working order" when either mediation or arbitration is in progress. The law mandates stiff penalties for violations of no-strike and no-retaliation clauses. Employers in the past sometimes ignored the law and dismissed or locked out workers without any legal action being taken against them, although no such cases were reported during the year. The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) reported that from 1990-99, there were 34 strikes, of which 23 involved workers at bus companies seeking increased pay and reduced hours. There were no strikes during the year or in 2000.

 

In 1971 the People's Republic of China replaced Taiwan in the International Labor Organization. However, in August the CFL's president attended an ILO regional meeting, the first such participation in an ILO meeting since 1971. The CFL is affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The new federations are not internationally affiliated.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

Except for the categories of workers noted in Section 6.a., the Labor Union Law and the Settlement of Labor Disputes Law give workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.

 

Under the Labor Union Law, employers may not refuse employment to, dismiss, or otherwise unfairly treat workers because they are labor union members. However, in practice employers sometimes have dismissed labor union leaders without reasonable cause, or laid them off first during employee cutbacks, and observers point out that the law has no specific penalties for violations. According to the National Federation of Independent Trade Unionists, over 400 trade unionists and supporters have been fired since the labor movement began to expand after the 1987 lifting of martial law.

 

The Collective Agreements Law provides for collective bargaining but does not make it mandatory. The 301 collective agreements in force in March involve roughly 26 percent of industrial labor unions and cover a relatively small proportion of the total workforce. Employers set wages generally in accordance with market conditions.

 

Firms in export processing zones are subject to the same laws regarding treatment of labor unions as other firms and follow normal practices including collective bargaining agreements with their unions.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; including forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were three cases of forced child prostitution prosecuted by the authorities, and there are allegations of trafficking in women (see Sections 5 and 6.f.).

 

In 1999 nine women who were forced to work as "comfort women" (women who, during World War II, were forced to provide sex to soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Government) filed lawsuits in Japan seeking $100,000 (NT$3,000,000) and a formal apology from the Japanese Government. The case remained before the courts at year's end.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The Labor Standards Law (LSL) prohibits forced and bonded child labor, and the authorities generally enforce this prohibition effectively. There were three cases of forced child prostitution prosecuted by the authorities. To protect children from the worst forms of exploitation, the authorities have enacted a Child Welfare Law, a Juvenile Welfare Law, and a Child and Juvenile Sexual Transaction Prevention Act to protect children from debt bondage, prostitution, pornographic performances, and other illicit activities specified in ILO Convention 182. The LSL stipulates age 15, after compulsory education required by law ends, as the minimum age for employment. County and city labor bureaus enforce minimum age laws.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Labor Standards Law mandates labor standards and addresses rights and obligations of employees and employers in the agriculture, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, public utilities, transportation, warehousing, communications, mass media, and other sectors designated by the Ministry of Interior. The law is not well enforced in areas such as overtime work and pay or retirement payments. By the end of 2000, the LSL covered 5.7 million of Taiwan's 6.8 million salaried workers. The CLA conducts publicity campaigns to increase public awareness of the law and has set up telephone hot lines to accept complaints of LSL violations.

 

The CLA did not increase the minimum monthly wage, which remained at $505 (NT$15,840). While sufficient in less expensive areas, this wage does not assure a decent standard of living for a worker and family in urban areas such as Taipei. However, the average manufacturing wage is more than double the legal minimum wage, and the average for service industry employees is even higher. In 2000 the LY passed legislation to reduce working hours from 48 hours per week to 84 hours in 2 weeks. In the public sector, there is a 5-day workweek every other week. According to a CLA survey, about one-third of private enterprises also have 5-day workweeks every other week.

 

The law provides only minimal standards for working conditions and health and safety precautions; it gives workers the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment.

 

Critics allege that the CLA does not effectively enforce workplace laws and regulations because it employs too few inspectors. During the year, there were 257 inspectors available for the approximately 300,000 enterprises covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Law. From 1999 to 2000, the number of inspections increased by 28 percent from 31,814 to 40,715. The CLA maintains that it has strengthened its safety checks at workplaces with a greater risk of worker injury and is offering training programs to help workers protect their rights. Since many enterprises are small, family-owned operations employing relatives unlikely to report violations, actual adherence to the hours, wage, and safety sections of various labor laws is hard to document but is believed to be minimal in these smaller enterprises. The CLA has established hot lines to receive complaints about safety violations.

 

According to CLA statistics, in June there were 324,600 legal foreign workers, including approximately 142,000 workers from Thailand, 89,000 workers from the Philippines, and 10,500 from Vietnam. In May the CLA announced that foreign workers would not be allowed to be employed on major public construction projects, and that it intended to reduce the number of foreign workers on the island by 15,000 workers per year.

 

The law stipulates that foreign workers who are employed legally receive the same protection as local workers. However, in 1998 foreign domestic workers were exempted from the LSL, denying them the right to safeguards provided to citizens. Moreover authorities say that in many cases illegal foreign workers, many from Thailand and the Philippines, receive board and lodging from their employers, but no medical coverage, accident insurance, or other benefits enjoyed by citizens. In response to deteriorating economic conditions the Government adopted a proposal by the Economic Development Advisory Conference, that, beginning with contracts signed in September, room and board expenses for foreign workers may be treated as in-kind payments and deducted from foreign workers pay.

 

Illegal foreign workers also are vulnerable to employer exploitation in the form of confiscation of passports (making it difficult to change employers), imposition of involuntary deductions from wages (including for room and board), and extension of working hours without overtime pay. There also were reports that foreign workers often paid high agency fees to obtain jobs. In addition observers say that conditions in many small- and medium-sized factories that employ illegal foreign labor are dangerous, due to old and poorly maintained equipment. Observers have alleged that legal foreign workers are sometimes similarly exploited. The CLA urged employers not to mistreat foreign workers, and employers are subject to the same penalties for mistreating foreign workers as for mistreating citizen workers. In an effort to reduce broker fees, the CLA revoked permits of agencies charging excessive fees, and local governments inspected agency hiring practices. The CLA also negotiated direct hire agreements with labor sending countries, and encouraged NGO's to establish nonprofit employment service organizations to assist foreign laborers in locating employment.

 

In 2000 the CLA ended the practice of requiring foreign female workers to undergo pregnancy tests. In the past, those who tested positive were subject to immediate deportation. The CLA has established 20 offices around the island to provide counseling and other services to foreign workers; it also provides financial assistance to city and county governments to conduct inspections of places where foreign workers are employed. It is attempting to reduce the number of illegal foreign workers.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The Statute for the Prevention of Child and Juvenile Sexual Trafficking empowers the authorities to prosecute any person who forces a child below the age of 18 to engage in sex or sells or pawns such a child by other means. Provisions in the Criminal Code could be used to prosecute traffickers in persons above the age of 18. Trafficking in persons is a problem.

 

The island remained a significant transit point and, to a lesser extent, a destination for trafficked persons. There were reports of organized crime rings trafficking in a small number of women for purpose of prostitution. The majority of cases involve women from mainland China, Thailand, or Cambodia. Criminal gangs in mainland China reportedly use deceptive measures to recruit and procure young women who were then trafficked to Taiwan-based organized crime gangs who arranged sham marriages to enable them to obtain visas to enter Taiwan, and exploited them for purposes of prostitution. Many of the victims were aware that they were to work as prostitutes, but were deceived by the traffickers about what their pay and working and living conditions would be upon arrival. Once in Taiwan, they were kept isolated, their passports held, and they were threatened with violence if they did not cooperate. Small numbers of young Malaysian women, primarily ethnic Chinese, were trafficked to Taiwan for sexual exploitation. Burmese and Indonesians also were trafficked to Taiwan. The authorities, academic experts, and NGO experts claim that the number of trafficking victims has decreased significantly in the past few years. The authorities reportedly prosecuted eight trafficking cases during 2000.

 

Taiwan remained a significant transit point for persons from mainland China attempting to travel illegally to the United States and other countries. Some of these illegal migrants become trafficking victims in the destination countries. In 1999 the LY enacted legislation which criminalized alien smuggling (see Section 2.d.).

 

Police are trained in handling trafficking, prostitution, and cases of domestic violence. The Government works with NGO's to provide counseling and medical assistance to victims as needed. Foreign victims of trafficking were repatriated as quickly as possible.

 

TAIWAN - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

TAIWAN - STANDARD WORKWEEK

Working hours are 84 hours every 2 weeks. In the public sector, there is a 5-day workweek every other week. According to a Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) survey, about one-third of private enterprises also have 5-day workweeks every other week.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, China (Taiwan only) – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)