The National Taiwan Museum has dragged its feet compensating contract workers for long unpaid back wages, labor rights advocates said on Monday, voicing doubts about the museum’s promises to pay in the wake of a court ruling.
“This has already dragged on for too long and the legal basis for the museum’s promise is unclear because it was always in a position to pay the back wages,” Workers’ Vanguard director Lin Yi-chih (林奕志) said.
The museum hired the workers early last year through Mansion Housekeeping and Cleaning Inc, only to see the firm delay salary payments and underpay the workers’ National Labor Insurance contributions, Lin said.
Lin said that the museum dragged its feet in addressing the company’s actions, refusing to represent the workers when they sought compensation from the firm and waiting eight months before applying to have it blacklisted.
It did transfer the workers to a different contractor in August last year, but has refused to use the Mansion Housekeeping’s security deposit to pay the workers what they are owed, he said.
“The reality is that the National Taiwan Museum was responsible for directing and supervising the workers, even though there was the formality of an outside contract,” Lin said.
“The museum should take on the responsibilities of a formal employer because it has acted like one,” Lin said.
The museum has long had a policy of using temp agencies to hire workers, even though some of those people have ended up working at the museum for years, Lin said.
A woman surnamed Chen (陳) said that the museum had yet to set out a specific timeline to pay the back wages, despite the workers winning their lawsuit against Mansion Housekeeping at the Taipei District Court.
“We have not received formal notification from the court, but we will turn over the funds as soon as the money is received,” National Taiwan Museum collection management section head Fang Chien-neng (方建能) said.
The museum’s lawyers had advised it not to represent workers in their compensation bid, Fang said.
Museum officials have said that its contract lacked provisions allowing it to seek compensation directly on behalf of the workers.
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