The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said that next year it would institute paid leave for parents to take care of their children in the case of a typhoon that shuts down schools, but leaves offices open.
The council will try to send a draft amendment to the Legislative Yuan before the end of the current session to put the legal provisions in place, council official Chen Hui-ling (陳慧玲) said.
Once the amendment is passed, the regulation would take effect next year, she said.
At a meeting convened by the council on Wednesday, representatives of business groups and employees reached an initial agreement to allow parents with children aged 12 and under to take paid leave when schools close, but offices remain open because of typhoons or other natural phenomena, Chen said.
However, employees of businesses that provide day care and workers whose spouses are unemployed will not be eligible for paid family care leave, she said.
The new regulation will cost NT$2 billion (US$69 million) per year, but it was not decided at the meeting who would bear the cost, Chen said.
Representatives of employees said employers should bear the cost, while business representatives said it should be covered by employment insurance or some other type of insurance, Chen said, adding that further discussions would be required to resolve the issue.
Representatives also avoided discussing the maximum length of family care leave in the case of typhoons that close schools, but not offices because the situation does not come up very often, she said.
At present, the Gender Employment Equality Act (性別工作平等法) allows employees to take up to seven days a year of unpaid family care leave in circumstances such as typhoons.
The issue of paid family care leave surfaced late last month when city and county governments announced the closure of schools, but not offices, as a result of Typhoon Nanmadol.
The decision left some working parents in a quandary because their children were on vacation and would have had no adult supervision if they went to work.
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