Insurance agents and labor unions’ representatives yesterday criticized the Regulations Governing the Supervision of Insurance Solicitors (保險業務員管理規則) for giving too much power to insurance companies to penalize their sales agents.
The rules — aimed to prevent inappropriate marketing — allow companies to give rewards to or impose disciplinary measures on their agents, but firms have weaponized the rules and punished agents as they want, Republic of China Insurance Union Alliance director Chuang Ching-hsiang (莊敬祥) said at a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
For example, Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽保險), had punished agents for “disrupting order in the office,” while Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽保險) required its agents to sign non-disclosure declarations and give up their legal rights, Chuang said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“Our colleagues were even fined for reposting media reports of Nan Shan Life Insurance Co’s (南山人壽) dubious transactions,” Nan Shan labor union president Tsai Kun-ying (蔡坤穎) said.
There are 380,000 agents in the nation, and most companies impose unreasonably strict disciplinary measures on them, alliance chairman Yan Ching-lung (嚴慶龍) said.
Companies can impose rules on their employees, according to the Labor Standards Act (勞基法), but most insurance agents are contracted workers and deserve fewer restrictions, Yan said.
The law also allows firms to cancel agents’ registrations, which prevents them from working in the industry for three years, he said.
“The rules are disproportional. Given that a mayor who is removed from office cannot run for election to the same office in three years, the punishment on an ordinary citizen should not be as severe,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said.
The unions urged the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Ministry of Labor to work together to resolve the disputes.
Insurance Bureau Director-General Shih Chiung-hwa (施瓊華) said the commission would consider amending regulations to resolve the long-lasting disputes.
The commission would review as soon as possible the reports of unreasonable disciplinary measures, Shih said, adding that it would “consider whether the punishment of canceling agents’ registrations is too severe.”
“The disputes have existed for a long time, but we will not ignore them. We will fix them in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor,” she said.
DPP Legislator Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌) said the Insurance Act (保險法) should also be amended to be comply with labor regulations.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS