Three Taipei companies have been fined a total of NT$820,000 for violating gender equality in the workplace, the Taipei Department of Labor said yesterday.
Department division chief Liu Chia-hung (劉嘉鴻) said that Magic Dentist in Zhongshan District (中山); Chuan Lian Enterprise Co (全聯實業), which operates the Pxmart supermarket chain; and Red Bean Dining Group (紅豆食府集團), owned by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien’s (連勝文) wife, Patty Tsai (蔡依珊), were fined for violating the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法).
Magic Dentist laid off an employee who took maternity leave; it was fined NT$20,000, Liu said.
Red Bean Dining Group was fined NT$500,000 because it had not set policies to prevent sexual harassment on its premises, a requirement set for firms with at least 30 employees, he said.
Its management did not take any action against cases of sexual harassment after learning about such incidents, and when an employee complained about being sexually harassed, the management suspended that person, also violations of the act, Liu said.
Chuan Lian was fined NT$300,000 because it refused to explain to a male job applicant, who told his interviewer that he identified as a woman, why he was not hired, Liu said.
The man told the interviewer that he hoped to be able to retain his long hair if hired, and he would keep it tied up at work as female employees do, Liu said.
The company refused to respond when asked why it did not hire him, Liu said.
Under the act, companies must give applicants with differing sexual orientations the reason that they were not recruited if the applicants asks for such information, Liu said, adding that denying this type of information amounts to sexual discrimination.
Department division chief Ho Hung-cheng (何洪丞) said that apart from certain professions that require employees to have short hair for work-related reasons — such as cooks who must meet sanitary regulations — firms that arbitrarily set rules targeting men with long hair, or those bordering on any form of discrimination, including appearance, political affiliation or religion, are in violation of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) .
In most cases, firing employees who prefer to wear long hair for any reason is considered exploiting gender stereotypes, which is also punishable under the law, Ho said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS