More than 40 fishing boat owners lodged a complaint with the Legislative Yuan yesterday over requirements that they enroll foreign workers in labor and health insurance programs.
The Bureau of National Labor Insurance and the Bureau of National Health Insurance sent out a written statement earlier this week notifying fishing boat owners that they must enroll the foreign workers they hire on their boats for labor and health insurance coverage within 15 days or face fines.
Fishing boat owners are required by law to ensure that their workers are covered under the labor insurance and health insurance systems.
They can do this by either by filing registration forms themselves or through brokerage agencies.
Fishing boat owners have complained that most owners are actually workers who have joined the insurance systems as insured members of fishermen’s associations.
They said if the government requires them to set up insured units in their capacity as employers, they will not only have to pay a lot more for their own insurance premiums, but will also lose their eligibility to apply for the fishermen’s welfare allowance of NT$6,000 a month when they retire.
In response, the bureaus said they were doing their duty in accordance with the law, but agreed to grant fishing boat owners a grace period.
They did not specify how long the period would be.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Chien-jung (林建榮) asked the
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