Social worker groups yesterday accused some non-governmental organizations (NGO) of demanding that employees “donate” their pay back to the organizations.
Several NGOs have been asking employees to “donate” their pay back to the organization to sidestep government inspections, the Kaohsiung Social Worker Association told a news conference in Taipei organized by New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭).
For example, Kaohsiung Warm Life has nominally been distributing government subsidies to all of its workers, but on pay day asks its workers to transfer the funds to a designated account, the association said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The Taiwan Association for Treatment of Domestic Violence and Sexual Offensse and the Taiwan Protection and Service Association are under investigation for allegedly asking their employees to transfer their salary into their employers’ private bank accounts, it said.
The Taipei Social Workers’ Union said it has received complaints from employees of branches of the Garden of Hope Foundation saying they are not being given their full salary.
Certified social workers who have passed qualifying exams said they only receive an additional NT$2,000, instead of the NT$3,995 the regulations stipulate.
The Taipei union said it had asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare for clarification, but the ministry only said that the associations should, if required to give more than one bonus, select the higher bonus.
While most government projects last for two to three years, some organizations hire workers on an annual basis and refuse to renew their contracts when they expire, which also saves them from giving severance pay, the union said.
Wang said the new payment model was implemented by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, but it is evident that the government has overlooked institutional issues in the social welfare sector.
She called on the ministry to demand that local governments and private organizations pay more attention to the issue and provide more funding for local governments to improve social workers’ pay.
The Kaohsiung Department of Civil Service Ethics said it is launching an investigation into the issue.
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