To encourage busy civil servants to vacations the Executive Yuan yesterday decided to abolish the system whereby employees earn a bonus for opting for work instead of taking a break.
"We'll abolish the bonus system because we'd like to see civil servants take some time off and enjoy their life," Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
Chuang said that the decision came after two recent incidents in which one government official fell ill after working overtime for a long period of time and another quit for health reasons.
Taichung Mayor and former foreign minister Jason Hu (
Prior to his trip, doctors in Taiwan had diagnosed Hu with "autonomous dysfunction."
Amid controversy over the hike in National Health Insurance premiums, Department of Health Director-General Lee Ming-liang (
Lee had obtained approval for his resignation one day earlier.
Chuang cited statistics from the Cabinet's Central Personnel Administration to show that it is a common phenomenon for high-ranking Cabinet officials to work overtime.
"Twenty-six officials have not yet taken any vacation for the first half of the year," Chuang said. "We'd like civil servants to arrange at least one vacation every six months so they'll have time to rest both their body and mind."
Commenting on the government's new policy, Minister without Portfolio Kuo Yao-chi (
"I should start to think that life will still go on without me when I'm on holidays," she told the Taipei Times.
Kuo, also serving as chairwoman of the Cabinet's Public Construction Commission and who was recently appointed executive-director of the Cabinet's ad-hoc 921 Reconstruction Commission, said that her three jobs have taken up a lot of her time.
"Since I work more than 10 hours a day, six days a week, I've taken only one day off since January this year although I'm entitled to 30 days of vacation this year," she said. "I know I need a vacation, but it's so hard to go on a vacation while there's so much to do in the office."
To follow the new policy, however, Kuo said that she may take one day off in September so she will be able to spend some time with her family.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS