2016 01. 01

Formal implementation of relevant amendments to shorten legal working hours as set forth in the “Labor Standards Act” was initiated. Key amendments include: shortening legal working hours to 40 hours per week, increasing the time required for preserving worker attendance records to five years and raising penalty levels for violations. In addition, the provision of ”Employers may, based on the needs of workers who tend to their family members, to allow workers the flexibility to adjust their starting and finishing time at work of up to one hour with no changes to the total daily work hours” was updated.

2016 01. 01

In coordination with the “Enforcement Rules of the Labor Standards Act” which was amended on December 9, 2015, amendments were made to delete the provision of “Basic wage of child labor should not be lower than 70% of basic wage” and direct adjustments were made to increase the former monthly insurance salary of less than NT$20,008 for the insured under 16 years old to NT$20,008.

2016 01. 01

The Taichung City Government, in accordance with the “Ministry of Labor Commissioning to Handle Employment Center Business Implementation Plan” promulgated by Ministry of Labor on April 21, 2015, accepted the commission to run the Fongyuan Employment Services Center for employment services for three years starting January 1, 2016.

2016 01. 01

To protect workers who use hazardous chemicals, starting January 1, 2016, the Ministry of Labor implemented the “Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)” fully to be in line with international practices.  This is an important milestone in Taiwan with regard to promoting chemical product management.

2016 01. 01

The “Directions of Reward Payment for Public Monitoring Report Safety and Health” was amended and promulgated to expand the scope of reporting and increase the rewards for flagging and reporting violations.

2016 01. 05

In response to statutory normal working hours being 40 hours a week staring on January 1, 2016, the Ministry of Labor amended the amount of energy related to assessment of long-term heavy work in the “Occupational Precipitating Cerebrovascular and Heart Diseases (Except for Trauma Cause) of the Identified Reference Guide”.

2016 01. 05

Certain provisions set forth in the “Directions for Derivatives Transaction for the Labor Funds” were amended and promulgated, amending criteria related to labor insurance funds engaging in derivatives transactions to increase funds operating flexibility.

2016 01. 10

László Andor, the ex-Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner of the European Commission, was invited to visit Taiwan.  Arrangements were made to meet government agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development Council, and the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan).  Commissioner Andor also gave keynote speeches at the Ministry of Labor, the European Union Centre in Taiwan, the European Union Research Centre, and the National Chengchi University.  Also, he had exchanges and communications with all relevant parties on topics related to Taiwan and European labor and social security.

2016 01. 11

Certain provisions set forth in the “Utilization Directions for the Labor Funds” were amended and promulgated, amending criteria relevant to investment in equity securities, short-term bill, debt securities, fund and real estate investment trust beneficiary securities or real estate asset trust beneficiary securities.  These changes enabled operations on fund to have consistent operating standards and increased flexibility in fund operations.

2016 01. 20

The “Youth Placement Flag-ship Program” was amended so that for training institutions who provide students a monthly salary of more than NT$30,000 or more, the training period may be extended from 3 months to 6 months.

2016 01. 29

Advance repayment of severance pay was approved, totaling more than NT$ 47,520,000 owed to 648 workers of Chili Lighting Corporation Limited.  The funds were deposited into the accounts in financial institutions designated by applicants on February 2, 2016. This is the first advance repayment case that is related to Article 50-4 of the “Enforcement Rules of the Labor Standards Act” after it was amended.

2016 02. 04

The “Government Agencies (Organizations) Use Labor Contracting Reference Principles” was promulgated, strengthening the protection of worker rights for contracting manufacturers’ stationed workers and the contract work by natural persons.

2016 02. 19

Certain provisions set forth in the “Regulations of Occupational Safety and Health Management” were amended and promulgated, adjusting the performance accreditation system of occupational safety and health management system and expanding the applicable scope of business units which must establish occupational safety and health management system.

2016 03. 01

Starting March 1, 2016, the Taoyuan City Government, in accordance with the “Ministry of Labor Commissioning to Handle Employment Center Business Implementation Plan” promulgated by Ministry of Labor on April 21, 2015, accepted the commission to run the employment services of the Zhongli Employment Center for a period of 3 years.

2016 03. 09

Announcement was made that short-term cram schools established by appointed companies may hire foreigners having international cooking related licenses with more than five years of work experiences in foreign catering industry and more than 2-year teaching experiences in famous international culinary education institutions to engage in culinary teaching.

2016 03. 14

Certain provisions set forth in the “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for Foreigners Undertaking the Jobs Specified under Article 46.1.8 to 46.1.11 of the Employment Service Act” were amended, and Chapter 5-1 was updated. These allow employers to hire foreign workers to engage in the slaughter, cutting, disintegration and dispensation of livestock or related labor which became effect on March 16, 2016.

2016 03. 17

The “Job Training and Readjustment Program” was amended, adding elderly people as applicable targets.

2016 03. 18

The "Table of Grades of Insured Salary" was amended and promulgated so that the highest grade is now NT$45,800 and being effective starting May 1, 2016.

2016 03. 23

Certain provisions set forth in the “Regulations of the Labor Health Protection" were amended and promulgated to exempt workers engaged in on-the job training of labor health service medical staff and certain temporary or short-term general workers from medical examination.

2016 03. 23

The International Federation of Training and Development Organization (IFTDO) held its 45th annual meeting in Bahrain from March 21 to 23, 2016. The Workforce Development Agency of the Ministry of Labor won the Merit Award in the Best Human Resource Development Practices Category of the 2016 Global HRD Awards with the theme of “Using TaiwanJobs Virtual and Real Integration to provide lifelong career counseling and planning services”.

2016 03. 28

The “Program for Private Groups Participation in National Activities of Employment Promotion” was amended to consider assisting social enterprise development and to clearly include the goals of social enterprise development.  Provisions such as the scope of the subsidies and relevant application and results reporting procedures were also amended.

2016.04.01

On-line working permit applications were made available for foreign professional school teachers, cram school teachers, sports, and performing artists, providing employers with a 24-hour online application option of submissions, payments, and inquiries; also,  options to notify applicants of review results with emails and through APPs were provided.

2016.05.01

Grade 20 of NT$45,800 was added to the “Table of Grades of Insured Salary” so that the applicable monthly insurance salary of the labor (employment) insurance insured with total salary of more than NT$43,900 becomes NT$45,800. To protect the interests of the insured, the Ministry of Labor used information such as wage contributing labor pension and National Health Insurance insured amount to directly adjust labor (employment) insurance salary.

2016.05.02

The “Subsidy Directions of Safety and Health Installations for Surface Treatment Industry, Ministry of Labor” was announced, guiding and subsidizing the surface treatment industry to improve plant safety and health and to provide labor safety and healthy working environments.

2016.05.05-05.10

Attended the 38th annual meeting and series meetings of the Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and participated in the APEC 6th Preparatory Meeting of Ministers of Education to promote the “APEC Skills Development Capacity Building Alliance”.  Also reported on a new proposal, the idea of “work life quality and quality growth under global supply/value chains”; the intention was that through information gathering and the workshop approach, to jointly search for and find work life quality in APEC regional and global supply chains.

2016.05.10

Abolishment was made for the interpretative ruling which states that students concurrently serving as part-time assistants who are hired by junior colleges and higher educational institutions and participate in labor insurance whose salaries are less than one-half of basic wage can be counted into the total number of employees in the ratio required of hiring disabled persons.

2016.05.12

Certain provisions set forth in the “Act of Gender Equality in Employment” were amended. The key amendments include: 1) expanded applicability of the Act to include employees who need to personally feed their babies less than two years old or need to collect breast milk; their employers shall provide them with the time for feeding or breast milk collection sixty minutes a day in addition to regular resting period(s); 2) deleted the restrictions on the number of times that one can feed or collect breast milk; 3) for employees who work overtime in excess of 1 hour of daily normal work hours, their employers shall provide them with an additional thirty minutes for feeding or breast milk collection; 4) expanded the number of applicable employers from those having two hundred and fifty employees or more to those employing one hundred employees or more; such employers must provide breastfeeding (breast milk collection) rooms, childcare facilities or suitable childcare measures; 5) for victims subject to lawsuits because of workplace sexual harassment and are notified by the judicial authorities to appear in court, official leave shall be given by employers for their court appearance.

2016.05.31

The “Subsidy Project of Advocating for Work Life Balance” was amended by increasing the amount of subsidies and extending support to companies to provide family-friendly measures.

2016.06.02

The “Pilot Plan Subsidized by Ministry of Labor for Local Governments to Stabilize Employment of Workers with Occupational Accidents” was announced, to strengthen the assistance of occupational accident worker to return to work.

2016.06.02

The “Directions on the Medical Examination Quality and the Health Management Ranking for Labor Physical and Health Examination Recognized Medical Institutes” was announced; through strengthening visits and results announcement and also providing employers and workers with references to select health examination institutions, interests related to labor physical and health examinations are protected.

2016.06.08

Announcement was made that training units conducting the Health and Safety Education and Training Completion Test for “Class-3 Manager of Occupational Safety and Health Affairs” and “Class-3 Manager of Occupational Safety and Health Affairs for Construction Industry” must be held in the examination centers approved by the central competent authority and will be in effect starting January 1, 2017.

2016.06.15

The interpretation of the establishment principles stated in Paragraph 1, Article 48-1 of the “Employment Service Act” was approved. It states that the local employer of a foreign worker must complete the employer training session held by the competent authority or its designated non-profit organization before hiring a foreign worker to provide home care or household assistance for the first time. Prior to obtaining hiring permits or continual hiring permits issued by the Ministry of Labor, employers must participate in pre-employment workshops.  Employers those who have previously obtained hiring permits or continual hiring permits are not subject to this provision.

2016.06.21

The provisions of the entire “Term of Validity, Application Procedure, and Other Documents Required by Center Competent Authorities for the Employer to Recruit the Class B Foreign Worker” were amended, being in effect starting July 1, 2016. Article 3 stipulates that those receiving care who meet specific disability items to recruit foreigners must first apply to the central competent authority within 60 days from the day the long-term care management centers completed their recommendations.  In addition, for employers who apply for re-recruitment and the cared for persons meeting specific disability items or not requiring medical professional assessment, previous provisions apply.  Article 4 stipulates that one who has a disability handbook and has never hired foreign domestic workers must include a diagnosis certificate which specifies one motor neuron disease.  Article 6 was added, and it stipulates that for employers who are hiring foreigners to work in homecare work or become family helpers for the first time, the employers or their agents must submit pre-employment training completion certificates and family relationship certificate.

2016.06.21

Rulings on certain provisions set forth in the “Enforcement Rules of the Labor Standards Act” which were amended on December 9, 2015 would become ineffective starting June 21, 2016. Key provisions recovered include the provisions that basic wage of child labor must be no less less than 70% of basic wage and that national holidays for workers be restored to 19 days.

2016.06.22

The amended “Subsidy Directions of Safety and Health Installations for Small and Medium Businesses, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor” was promulgated, guiding and subsiding SMEs to improve their safety and health facilities and equipment as well as provide a safe working environment.

2016.06.27

The three letters of file No. (1992) lao-bao 2-zi 22695 dated on August 13, 1992, file No. (1993) lao-bao 2–zi 24213 dated on July 28, 1993, and file No. tai (1993) lao-bao 2-zi 60111 dated on October 23, 1993 were abolished.  This requires self-employed persons engaging in the selling and making profit through buying and selling to participate in the labor insurance through professional trade unions.

2016.06.29

The interpretation to Article 26 of the “Labor Standards Act” on official holidays done by the Ministry of the Interior during the period when it was in charge of labor affairs was abolished; the change would be effective starting August 1, 2016.