Representatives of university adjunct faculty and assistants protested outside the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday, accusing it of inaction as universities ignored a law requiring that all employees be covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) program.
Most universities in the nation have failed to enroll adjunct or part-time faculty and teaching and research assistants in the insurance program as stipulated in the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), the Taiwan Higher Education Union said, adding that these part-time employees can only join the health program either by registering as an “unemployed worker” in their district offices or through their parents or spouses.
“What’s worse is that with the second-generation NHI system taking effect, adjunct teachers now have to pay a 2 percent supplementary premium,” union secretary-general Chen Cheng-liang (陳政亮) said.
Photo: Wei Yi-chia, Taipei Times
The 2 percent supplementary premium rate is imposed on each NT$5,000 an insured person earns from any of the following six sources: moonlighting, rent, interest, stock dividends, professional practice and performance bonus if the amount is four times more than the monthly salary.
As a result, an adjunct teacher who teaches at five universities and earns NT$41,580 per month has to pay a monthly premium of NT$1,534 — an amount that is equivalent to the rate paid by a regular employee earning NT$105,600 per month, the union said.
“Since on average I earn more than NT$5,000 per month from each university I work at, each of my income is subject to the 2 percent supplementary premium rate,” said Hsu Wen-lu (徐文路), an adjunct assistant professor.
According to a survey conducted by the union earlier this year, 132 of the nation’s 166 universities and colleges refuse to enrol adjunct teachers in the NHI program.
Specifically, 27 of the 55 public universities and colleges have failed to comply with this obligation, with another 12 “conditionally” insuring non-tenured teachers, contingent upon whether the department is sufficiently funded, the union cited National Taiwan University as saying.
The union said that while investigating the issue, many of the universities and colleges surveyed excused themselves by citing an interpretative rule issued by the DOH in 1995, which states that only when an employee’s workweek exceeds 12 hours will the employer be obligated to enroll them in the NHI program.
The union said the interpretative rule was a “violation” of the law, citing Lin Chia-ho (林佳和), an assistant professor at National Chengchi University’s College of Law.
“The status of tenured or non-tenured or full-time or part-time does not affect the fact that the schools are, under the law, the employers of the adjunct faculty and assistants. The interpretative rule contradicts the NHI Act, creating an exclusion clause that is not written in the law, which renders it an illegitimate legal interpretation,” said Lin.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS