The family of a 29-year old man who died suddenly at home after regularly working overtime at Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday accused the government of failing to recognize the case as occupational death.
Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) and labor activists, the family told a press conference that their son, Hsu Shao-pin (徐紹斌), started working at Nanya in 2006 as an engineer and frequently worked overtime — as much as 139 hours a month. Before his death, Hsu had been putting in about 80 hours of overtime each month for half a year. On Jan. 11, his parents found him dead in front of his computer at home.
Hsu’s parents filed for compensation due to occupational injury and death with the Council of Labor Affairs’ (CLA) Bureau of Labor Insurance, claiming their son had died of exhaustion because he did not have any previous illnesses and was in the prime of his life.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The family maintain that working long hours in a high-stress environment and suddenly dying from heart attack or stroke are classic signs of death from overwork.
Although a court forensics analysis found that Hsu died of cardiogenic shock, it said his death was unrelated to his occupation.
Huang accused the CLA of turning a blind eye to hazardous work environments and the near impossibility of getting fair compensation for death from overwork under the current system.
In addition, to work-related health hazards, Huang also said that businesses can easily get away with demanding overtime from workers without giving additional pay.
“Businesses that say compensation is determined by job responsibilities rather than work hours can easily get away with saving money on employee overtime,” Huang said.
She said government officials who allow this to happen are siding with businesses and called the CLA the “Council of Employer Affairs.”
In response, Tsai Su-ying (蔡素櫻), assistant manager at the bureau, said that in this particular case, doctors were divided on whether the death was a result of overwork. While some were of the opinion that overwork did not affect Hsu’s health, the CLA will hand the case over to the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for a full investigation as soon as possible, Tsai said.
The council also said that businesses are not allowed to compensate according to job responsibility rather than work hours without first obtaining approval from the CLA and having negotiated working hours with the employee. Violators can be punished with fines of up to NT$60,000, the CLA said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS