Ministry of Labor indicated that the current “Labor Standards Act” has stipulated employers should appropriate labor pension reserve funds per month for the purpose of paying the labor pension.  However, in recent years, there were business entities appropriating inadequate pension reserves funds, and some of them suddenly closed as Hualong case, as a result, the workers claimed their pension nowhere; therefore, it is necessary to amend the law to strengthen the protection.  When the bills was carried out in the Legislative Yuan, the members of Legislative Yuan had proposed that business entities should adequately and once appropriate the pension required for labor eligible for retirement within 5 years or 3 years, to prevent from the recurrence of similar cases.  Under weighing the burden of employers and taking into account of labor rights, the provisions set forth in Paragraph 2, Article 56 of “Labor Standards Act” was amended and adopted on February 2015 that employers should assess the pension required for labor eligible for retirement in next year, and make up the difference of the reserve funds in one appropriation, in order to ensure the interests of labor pension.

    Ministry of Labor emphasized, “labor eligible for retirement” in next year referred in the Paragraph 2, Article 56 of “Labor Standards Act”, means the workers eligible for retirement set forth in Article 53, and Subparagraph 1, Paragraph 1, Article 54 of “Labor Standards Act” should be included for calculation, and for clear assessment, the estimation manner is specified in Article 29-1 of Enforcement Rules of the Labor Standards Act.

    Ministry of Labor indicated that labor pension reserve funds system has enforced for 30 years, as long as business entities adjust the appropriation rate and make the appropriation per month according to regulations, the balance of special account are most enough to pay the required pension reserve funds in next year.  Till the end of June this year (2016), 80% of business entities have carried out adequate appropriation.

      Ministry of Labor will cope with local governments to strengthen guidance and instructions; besides the implementation of appropriation on a monthly basis, local governments will gradually guide business entities to increase appropriation rate, figuring out the number of workers who retired due to age, and voluntarily every year, and adequately appropriating the pension reserve funds every year to ensure the labor retirement interests. In addition, Ministry of Labor has built spreadsheet software (https://kmvc.mol.gov.tw/pension/labor_priority.aspx) for employers to assess the appropriation amount required for labor pension reserves in next year, so as to response to pre-financing.