The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) is facing criticism amid allegations of discrimination against a foreign employee and the implementation of internal security rules that allow monitoring of employees’ movement and Internet activity.
At the heart of the criticism is the case of Bo Tedards, who was removed from his duties as director of the foundation’s International Cooperation Department and reassigned as a researcher after returning from eight months of parental leave in January last year.
Tedards filed a complaint with Taipei City’s Department of Labor, claiming he had been discriminated against under the Gender Equality and Employment Act (性別工作平等法). He won his case, with the department fining the foundation NT$50,000 in August last year.
Department of Labor Commissioner Chen Yeh-hsin (陳業鑫) said after the ruling that an investigation by the department showed that Tedards’ transfer was related to his parental leave, adding that Tedards’ work contract had him down as director, contradicting claims by the foundation that he had always been a researcher and was concurrently a director.
TFD director Huang Teh-fu (黃德福), who had informed Tedards of his demotion — which came with a NT$10,000 reduction in salary — denied the reassignment had anything to do with Tedards’ parental leave and launched an administrative appeal with the Council of Labor Affairs.
After the council turned down the appeal on Jan. 20, Huang initiated legal action at the Administrative High Court against the city government.
Although such legal wrangling is not uncommon, the Taiwan Women’s Link and the Taiwan Labor Front, which rallied in support of Tedards, told a press conference on Friday that as a semi--governmental organization that supports freedom, human rights and democracy, the foundation should set an example rather than trample on the rights of its employees.
The groups said Tedards’ case served as a marker of the various kinds of discriminatory acts in the workplace, adding that the foundation should immediately restore Tedards to his old position and cease all legal action.
Tedards, who has worked full-time at the foundation since 2006, says that since his demotion last year, he has felt marginalized and excluded from any important work. He attributes the situation to the foundation knowing it has no legal basis for firing him.
Describing Huang’s appeal as practically unwinnable, Tedards called on the foundation to put things in perspective.
“Dr Huang should take a step back and consider the larger picture and the image of the foundation,” he told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Rather than pursuing a lost cause, “he should be more concerned about the impact on the foundation’s reputation,” Tedards said.
Since early last year, the foundation has also implemented a series of new regulations to keep tabs on its employees. Starting on Jan. 1 last year, all incoming and outgoing e-mails to TDF accounts are now automatically copied, a source told the Taipei Times. Sometime in the middle of 2010, a new electronic key for the foundation’s main door was allegedly installed, which logs employees who are now forced to swipe their cards in the morning, the afternoon and during lunchtime.
Starting on April 2, all visitors to the building must now officially register, and on April 12, employees were asked to create personal usernames and passwords to enable tracking of printing and copying. The foundation said the last measure was to save electricity.
There has also been talk that the foundation can track all Internet usage by its employees, though no official announcement of such a policy has been made.
Major revisions have also been made to internal labor regulations, which came into force on Nov. 1 last year. Those include a downward adjustment of benefits for employees from near-civil-servant levels to the minimum allowed under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
With additional translation by Jake Chung
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and