A bill to ban age discrimination in the workplace yesterday cleared the committee stage at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The aim of the bill is to help boost the working rate of middle-aged and elderly people, protect their right to rejoin the workforce and encourage equitable employment opportunities.
The proposed legislation would bar employers from discriminating against an employee or job applicant because of their age in recruitment, hiring, job allocation, performance evaluation, promotion, wages and benefits, retirement or redundancy payments.
The bill defines middle-aged workers as those aged 45 to 65, while elderly workers are defined as those over 65.
The draft bill states that employers should be able to hire people aged at least 65 on fixed-term contracts and the government should provide subsidies to employers of older workers who pass on their professional experience to younger employees.
Enterprises that hire workers nearing 65 should also provide assistance to such workers one year before their retirement to help them find re-employment, the draft states.
People who believe they have been discriminated against due to age would be able to file a complaint with their local labor affairs authorities, and their employers would not be allowed to fire or transfer them while the complaint is investigated, the draft bill states.
Employers found to discriminating on the basis of age could be fined from NT$300,000 (US$9,825) to NT$1.5 million, while those who fire an employee who has filed a complaint or subject them to any form of punishment, such as a transfer, could be fined between NT$20,000 and NT$300,000.
The Ministry of Labor would be authorized to publish the names of companies or their owners that subject any of their employees to unfair treatment because of their age and order them to make improvements within a certain time or face fines.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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