Police and fire department officers yesterday accused the government of making them work for free after they reach their monthly overtime limits.
According to Article 23 of the Civil Service Protection Act (公務人員保障法), civil servants should receive overtime pay, compensatory time off, and rewards or equivalent compensation for overtime work, said a police officer nicknamed Ta Pai (大白), who wore a mask at the news conference yesterday.
In 2000, the Executive Yuan set limits for police working overtime. Under the regulations, police are not paid for overtime work when their monthly overtime exceeds 100 hours or when their monthly overtime pay exceeds NT$17,000 (US$583).
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
If they exceed the limit, they only receive compensatory time off or a written commendation, which the government considers a reward equivalent to overtime pay.
Among police, this rule has come to be known as the “volunteer police program clause,” because it has allowed government agencies to overwork them and not pay them for it.
The Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) does not apply to civil servants and officials do not recognize police labor unions, making it impossible for police officers to negotiate their work conditions, said Ta Pai, who is also a Taiwan Police Union member.
The union demanded that the government abolish the limits for overtime pay, provide overtime pay at rates stipulated by the labor law, and release police work hours and other related information.
According to the union, the Taipei City Police Department last year paid its officers NT$35 million less than they should have earned because of the overtime pay limits.
The number would have been about 10 times more if police officers had been given overtime pay of between 1.33 times and 1.66 times their hourly wages, as stipulated by the labor law, the union said.
Firefighters last year pointed out similar problems and government officials responded by saying they would look into it, but never responded, National Association for Firefighters’ Rights president Yang Shih-wei (楊適瑋) said.
When prolonged work hours become the new norm for police, the quality of law enforcement and police labor rights are all sacrificed, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒) said.
The personnel turnover rate at police departments would continue to rise if the issue remains unsolved, Lee added.
Directorate-General of Personnel Administration official Huang Yue-ying (黃悅茵) said that because abolishing the overtime pay limits involves government budgets, the Ministry of the Interior would have to thoroughly review the issue and work with local governments to decide how to handle it best.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS