The Taipei City Government yesterday gave a NT$300,000 fine to China Airlines for discriminating against shorter people with a height requirement for flight attendant applicants, and failing to change the recruitment advertisement after receiving warnings.
The airline violated the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) by running an advertisement on its Web site in April recruiting 92 flight attendants that required female flight attendants to be at least 160cm tall and males at least 170cm, Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs said.
The department convened an employment discrimination committee on Thursday to discuss the case and determined that the airline’s requirement constituted workplace discrimination and violated labor laws.
Chen Yeh-shin (陳業鑫), commissioner of the department, said the airline canceled the height restriction on May 21 during the first-round interviews and instead asked applicants to touch the overhead compartments as a test, but it failed to remove the height requirement in the ads.
“The airline would not violate the act by demanding interviewees to touch the overhead compartments as a requirement. Setting up a height requirement and denying some people the opportunity to apply for the positions is discrimination,” he said yesterday.
The company had defended the requirement by saying the crew had to be tall enough to reach the compartments.
Chen said the company would be given 30 days to file an appeal.
Yesterday’s case made the company the first airline to be fined for setting up a height requirement for flight attendants since the act was amended in 2007 to ban requirements concerning birthplace, height, weight, appearance and age.
The department yesterday also fined Seasons Hotel Group NT$100,000 for firing a middle-aged female worker in May last year for wearing glasses.
The hotel required all female workers to wear contact lenses, but did not require male employees to do so.
The worker, surnamed Su, filed a complaint with the department last year. Chen said the committee on Thursday determined that the hotel violated the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法) by setting up unfair requirements targeting female workers.
The hotel yesterday argued that Su was fired for her poor language ability, and said it would file an appeal.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
RSS