Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) and Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) on Wednesday joined workers' rights groups in accusing Fubon Securities of discrimination against physically disadvantaged employees.
Wang said at a press conference that Fubon Securities had unreasonably laid off an employee who suffers from mild hearing impairment last June.
According to Wang, the company first transferred the employee, surnamed Chiang, from its human resources department to its legal affairs office, without offering her further legal training.
He said that the company then made things even more difficult for Chiang by asking her to be responsible for jobs involving a lot of spoken communication and assigning her a hefty workload.
The company then laid her off, citing incompetence, Wang said.
Chiang filed complaints to the Gender Discrimination Review Committee at the Taipei City labor department, but the company has shown no sincerity in resolving the dispute, Wang said.
Although the labor department ruled against Fubon at the end of June, the company cannot be legally compelled to compensate her, Hsieh said.
Wang added that the Fubon Financial Holding Company did not employ as many disadvantaged people as required by the Welfare Regulations for the Mentally and Physically Disadvantaged (
Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲), deputy secretary-general of Enabled, an alliance of rights groups for disadvantaged people, said that neither Fubon Insurance nor Fubon Life met the employment requirement.
Wang Yu-ling, a former top official in the city's labor department, said it was employers' responsibility to provide the necessary equipment or adjust job requirements for disabled employees.
Wang Jung-chang said that if Fubon Securities did not respond in good faith, he and Hsieh would present a proposal at the Legislative Yuan session to withdraw public funds from Taipei Fubon Bank, in which it owns a significant stake.
He added that the case should serve as a lesson for Chinatrust, which will take over the administration of the national lottery next year, to remember its public responsibility.
Wang Jung-chang said that he and Hsieh would help Chiang appeal to the Council of Labor Affairs.
Cheng Chih-hsuan (程芝萱), assistant manager of the securities firm's marketing and customer service department, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that Chiang had agreed with the initial job transfer and that her work at the legal office had not required professional legal knowledge.
She added that Chiang's supervisor had warned her about falling behind with her duties before firing her.
The company is also in possession of a document signed by Chiang in which she admits making mistakes at work, Cheng said.
Cheng added that Fubon was complying with the employment requirements stated in the Welfare Regulations for the Mentally and Physically Disadvantaged, and that the company was considering an appeal against the labor department's ruling.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant