Guidelines released by the Ministry of Labor to better inform female migrant workers who are pregnant or have young children about their rights in Taiwan have drawn mixed responses from civic groups.
The guidelines, released on Tuesday, bring together information scattered across the jurisdictions of several government agencies that female migrant workers can refer to when they become pregnant.
For example, one regulation states that they can reach a mutual agreement to dissolve their contract with their employer after they become pregnant and they are entitled to a 60-day leeway period to rest after childbirth before they have to start looking for a new employer.
Photo: Li Ya-wen, Taipei Times
The document is available in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai.
The guidelines drew criticism from the International Association of Family and Employers with Disabilities, which described them as “intentionally playing up the importance of migrant workers’ families” and “neglecting the mission of their jobs.”
The primary goal for migrant workers who have come to Taiwan should be to work, not to have children, the association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ministry should immediately rescind the guidelines, which put the rights of women and children before the needs of families that recruit live-in caregivers, infringing upon their welfare, it said.
In response, the ministry said that migrant workers have the same rights as Taiwanese workers to decide whether to have children and, like their Taiwanese counterparts, are protected by the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別平等工作法), which governs maternity leave and other applicable laws.
Crucially, the guidelines also point employers of migrant live-in caregivers to short-term and respite care services, which they can use if their caregiver becomes pregnant, the ministry said.
The guidelines do not undermine the rights of people who hire migrant workers, it said, adding that it would discuss with the Ministry of Health and Welfare how to improve existing supplementary care services to better address the needs of people should their caregiver become pregnant.
Serikat Buruh Industri Perawatan Taiwan, a union made up of Indonesian caregivers working for Taiwanese families and in nursing homes, said it respected the association’s opinion and acknowledged that pregnant caregivers could put care recipients and themselves in danger if they continue to work.
However, the Gender Equality in Employment Act and international anti-discrimination conventions have been enshrined into local law to prohibit the dismissal of pregnant workers, the union said on Thursday.
Despite those efforts, sexual discrimination still exists, the union said.
If certain groups disregard the rights of migrant workers to become pregnant and flout international conventions, their suitability to hire such workers should be questioned, and they risk tarnishing the image of their nation, it said.
Lee Kai-li (李凱莉), a director in charge of migrant affairs at the Garden of Hope Foundation, commended the labor ministry for publishing the guidelines, which she said conveniently bring together the majority of regulations regarding migrant workers.
However, she said there is a major omission — the document neglects to mention the legal liability of employers should they break the regulations.
Noting that many employers who illegally fire pregnant migrant workers have gone unpunished after paying severance, Lee said she hoped that the guidelines would serve as a reminder to the authorities that the law must be enforced.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS