Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) was grilled in the legislature yesterday after government officials confirmed that department employees were allowed to take paid leave and were given educational credits for visiting the Taipei International Flora Expo.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) told the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee meeting that it was unreasonable for department employees to simply have to show ticket stubs from the flora expo to be granted paid leave.
Showing official notices from the department’s Centers for Disease Control, Twu said employees were given one day of official leave to visit the flora expo and that attendance would count toward six hours of the civil servants’ lifetime learning program.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
The policy, one of the documents said, was made to “reduce work-related stress and increase cultural standards.”
“This is ridiculous ... and clearly illegal,” Twu said. “Taxpayers pay for the salaries of public workers, including paid leave ... [the policy] is unfair to hardworking taxpayers.”
“Of course we support the flora expo because it is an event organized by Taiwan, but is this method of promoting it really necessary?” Twu asked.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) called the policy “unreasonable.”
“I thought it was incredible,” Hsu said. “How can public servants get paid leave for visiting [the expo].”
Yaung, who had initially claimed he was unaware of the policy, said the measure was legal and in accordance with the government’s promotion of lifetime learning for public servants.
However, after other senior department officials told lawmakers that the minister had expressly authorized the paid leave, Yaung said that the policy was based on environmental and ecological considerations.
Visiting the expo is an environmental and educational activity, so it is an appropriate choice for civil servants to fulfill their lifetime learning program requirements, Yaung said.
“The flora expo has educational values on recycling and ecology,” Yaung said.
To ensure that their work is not disrupted, rather than take off any day, employees have to apply for official leave ahead of time, he said.
“If you went to the flora expo for lifetime learning, when you come back, you need to produce the ticket stub to prove that you went,” he said.
However, Yaung agreed that government employees taking time off to visit the expo so soon after its opening could be badly perceived by the public, adding that he would recommend that public servants hold off visiting “until later.”
The controversy comes hot on the heels of criticism that the Taipei City Government had encouraged public servants and city students to use work and school hours to learn the “flora expo dance.”
Encouragement from the department, Yaung said, was unlikely to have had a significant impact on those numbers.
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