The number of companies that abuse the “job responsibility system” in Taipei is increasing, Taipei’s Department of Labor Affairs said yesterday, as it warned employers about violating labor laws by making employees work overtime.
According to the latest information from the department, the number of cases in violation of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) reached 523 this year, with overtime work accounting for 199 cases, while there were 142 cases where employees were not given sufficient holidays.
Department commissioner Chen Yeh-shin (陳業鑫) said overtime has been a serious labor issue over the years as a result of employers abusing the job responsibility system. The department would pay closer attention to the problem with regular workplace inspections, Chen said.
“The abuse of the so-called job responsibility system affects workers the most. We urge employers to follow regulations or they will face serious fines,” he said.
The act stipulates that a worker should not regularly work in excess of eight hours a day and 84 hours every two weeks. However, the employer, with the consent of a labor union or the approval of a labor-management conference, may extend workers’ working hours.
According to the act, the combination of extended working hours and regular working hours may not exceed 12 hours a day, and companies that force employees to work overtime face fines of up to NT$300,000 (US$10,300), with the name of the employer to be publicized.
The department has hit employers with more than NT$21 million in fines this year. Last year, there were a total of 614 violations and the department gave out fines totaling NT$15 million.
The department would strengthen inspections and focus its efforts on clamping down on abuses of the system, Chen said, while calling on workers who find their rights being violated to file complaints with the department by dialing the Citizen Hotline on 1999.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS