The legislature yesterday passed an amendment stipulating that employers can not discriminate against jobseekers on the basis of birthplace, sexual orientation or age.
Violators of the amendment to the Employment Service Act (
The lack of prohibition on age discrimination in the original Act fails to reflect the spirit of equal opportunity, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lu Tien-Lin (
The inclusion will be helpful to reduce the unemployment rate of middle-aged and senior job seekers, he said.
"With the bill's passage, job seekers are entitled to file a complaint if they encounter age discrimination," Lu said.
DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (
Meanwhile, parts of the amendment were revised to help employers who encounter problems with runaway foreign domestic workers.
Under current regulations, employers are not allowed to reapply for a foreign domestic worker within a year of reporting a runaway to the authorities.
Lawmakers reduced the waiting period to six months in cases where foreign workers were working in the employer's home. The amendment also stipulates that employers may immediately submit another application if the domestic worker they applied for runs away before arriving at the work place.
"Employers should not suffer because a foreign domestic worker runs away, because the problem is often caused by human traffickers and broker agencies," People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
Lawmakers also revised a regulation that required employers to pay for the costs of repatriating a runaway if the runaway is caught.
The amendment stipulates that, in cases where the runaway has secured a job with a new employer illegally, the new employer must pay the repatriation costs.
In related developments, the legislature yesterday also passed an amendment to the Civil Law (
The law stipulates that a marriage is valid if a public ceremony with more than two witnesses is carried out. The amendment requires that marriages be registered.
The legislature yesterday also annulled the law's regulation requiring that parents use the father's surname for their children. The amendment requires that parents agree on the surname in writing before registering the birth of their child.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese