A recent series of labor inspections targeted at dispatch and contract workers at 70 high-tech dispatch companies found that only seven firms met regulations and as many as 90 percent of the firms were in breach of labor laws.
The inspections, which were conducted by the Council of Labor Affairs between July and September last year, included surprise inspections of manpower companies that supply dispatch and contract workers to -factories and plants used by high-tech companies in science parks in Hsinchu, Greater Taichung and Greater Tainan.
The companies were assessed for their compliance with labor regulations, such as gender equality in the workplace, wages, work hours, labor insurance, labor pension, legality of contracts and others.
A majority of the 63 companies investigated had committed some form of labor violation, for a combined total of 179 violations.
Close to 40 percent of the -companies were found to be delinquent in adjusting contributions to employees’ labor pensions.
Thirty-nine percent of the companies did not truthfully report their employees’ salaries to the Bureau of Labor Insurance, while 30 percent did not establish any form of employee working standards.
The manpower companies were also responsible for overworking of their employees, with 26 percent of firms found to demand excessive overtime, 21 percent of not providing overtime pay, 17 percent of not allowing employees to take time off they were entitled to and 10 percent of engaging in illegal contracts.
However, the council declined to publicize a list of the companies that committed the labor violations, saying it had no legal authority to do so.
Department of Labor Management Relations section chief Wang Hou-wei (王厚偉) said the results of the inspections showed that the violations were severe and the working environment for dispatch and contract workers was “highly inadequate.”
“The main reason [for the high rate of violations] is that companies in the dispatch industry have a wide range of qualities,” he said.
“We have informed the science park administrations of the labor inspection results and will continue to crack down on violators this year,” he added.
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