An ad hoc group has been established to investigate an alleged case of workplace bullying at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it said yesterday.
An anonymous report posted on Threads on Friday last week claimed that the head of the Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infectious Diseases division was engaged in workplace bullying, the CDC said.
The post accused the official of acting like a “local emperor,” it said.
Photo: CNA
In the approximately two years since she took office in May 2022, personnel turnover has been as high as 34 percent, it said.
The official had refused to let her staff transfer to other divisions, even blocking their applications for up to six months, it said, adding that as people heard how “rude and unreasonable” she was, vacancies in the division became difficult to fill, adding to the strain on its staff.
She often shouts at workers, throws documents and makes offensive remarks such as: “Are you a pig?” the post said, adding that many workers said they would take a demotion to escape the division.
The poster said they shared the situation online in the hope that higher-up officials at the CDC would help improve the situation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) at a legislative meeting yesterday said that she had asked the CDC about the case, but had not received a response.
The whistle-blower told her that a civil servant who left the division had reported the situation to the ethics office, Chen said.
Personnel turnover at the division is the highest in the CDC, well above the agency average of 12 percent, she said, adding that the centers should explain why it has not dealt with the issue.
CDC Deputy Director-General and spokesman Philip Lo (羅一鈞) yesterday said that the agency checked the complaints and petitions it had received recently, but none seemed to be linked to the online complaint.
However, an ad hoc group consisting of two CDC members and two independent specialists — a law expert and a counselor — was immediately established to investigate to protect the rights of CDC staff, Lo said.
The personnel turnover rate at the division is about 37 percent, he said.
Out of 35 staff, six transferred to other divisions, six to other government agencies and one resigned, he said.
The division has a heavy workload even after the Central Epidemic Command Center was dissolved, as it was in charge of winding up operations to provide supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reform the infectious disease healthcare network and annual vaccination operations, he said.
The CDC will follow Premier Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) instructions to complete the investigation within a week, he said.
Separately, KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) yesterday told a legislative meeting that she had received a letter claiming that an official at Taiwan’s representative office in Saudi Arabia was allegedly involved in workplace harassment.
The anonymous sender dared not reveal their name, Hsu said.
They claimed that an official was involved in misuse of public funds, humiliating staff in public, illegally dismissing foreign employees and forced staff to pay out-of-pocket for alcoholic beverages, Hsu said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should look into the situation and submit a report within two weeks, she said.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said that the ministry would conduct an impartial investigation into the situation.
The reports came one day after Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) on Tuesday apologized after a 39-year-old civil servant at the Workforce Development Agency’s northern branch committed suicide in their office earlier this month.
The branch director, who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, was demoted to a nonsupervisory position, following allegations on Threads that the employee experienced workplace bullying and harassment.
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