The legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) that could deprive school officials of their job or credentials if their failure to report sexual harassment leads to a repetition of the harassment.
The amendment stipulates that school personnel who fail to report suspected acts of sexual harassment, sexual assault or “sexual bullying” within 24 hours could be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 in the first instance.
Similar fines will apply if they are found to have tried to cover up the alleged cases by counterfeiting, falsifying, destroying or concealing evidence.
School personnel, including principals, teachers, employees and other workers, are required to report allegations to their school and related authorities or to the sexual assault prevention center of their city or county government within 24 hours of learning of the allegation.
An employee’s contract could be terminated or his or her credentials nullified permanently if a similar incident occurs on campus because of an initial failure to report a previous incident or to preserve evidence of an offense, the act states.
The amendment also -introduced regulations to prevent “sexual bullying,” which is now defined as language, acts or violent behavior used to disparage, attack or threaten people that target gender, sexual characteristics, sexual personality, sexual inclination or gender identity.
The act states that students who engage in sexual bullying could be expelled.
Only suspected acts of sexual bullying will be referred to the commission for gender equality established in each school, said Eric Ker (柯今尉), section chief of Ministry of Education’s Student Affairs Committee.
The legislature also passed an amendment to the Anti--Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例) that makes it a crime for people to bribe civil servants even if the civil servant(s) involved is not able to use their authority to benefit the bribers. Previously, people could only be convicted of bribing a civil servant if they were able to benefit from the bribe.
Under the amendment, people convicted of bribing a civil servant, even when they do not benefit from the bribery, could face a maximum prison term of under three years or a maximum fine of NT$500,000.
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