The Ministry of Labor is considering allowing families who employ foreign caregivers to receive government-subsidized “respite services” for the first time, officials said yesterday.
“There will be some funds to see if we can allow foreign caregivers to rest by introducing domestic caregivers to help out,” said Kung Kuei-lan (龔桂蘭), section head for foreign labor management at the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, adding that the plans were still under deliberation.
Families employing foreign caregivers are currently barred from taking advantage of government-subsidized “respite services,” causing inconvenience when caregivers are required to temporarily leave the nation following the conclusion of their three-year contracts.
The Chinese-language United Evening News yesterday reported that the ministry was considering several measures to its plans to eliminate the exit requirements, including allowing blue-collar migrant workers to directly renew their contracts and allowing employers whose migrant worker has run away to immediately hire a replacement under certain conditions.
Kung said that the ministry was discussing whether to ease run-away replacement requirements, saying there would also be a review of the functions of the bureau that currently handles direct hiring.
A final vote on a proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that would eliminate the three-year exit requirement was not held on Tuesday, but is still on the legislative agenda.
Labor brokerages, who staged a protest against the amendment on Tuesday, said it would entitle foreign laborers to 35 days of paid leave every three years.
Kung yesterday said that while amendments include giving foreign workers the right to take time off to visit their families, the length of the leave would still be dependent on contract negotiations with employers.
Labor activists have said the current exit requirement is unfair, as it requires workers to pay new brokerage fees every three years, even if their contracts are for the same positions with the same employer.
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