The New Taipei City District Court said a packaging technician was entitled to fully paid medical leave as she recuperated from surgery for a work-related knee injury.
The plaintiff’s employer, a computer-chip manufacturer, must pay her NT$140,000 (US$4,241) in back pay, the ruling said.
The technician, surnamed Huang (黃), sued her employer for her full NT$24,000-per-month salary for the eight months she spent recovering from a second knee operation to repair damage that she said was the result of workplace injuries sustained over 14 years of working on the firm’s assembly line.
She first underwent a meniscectomy on the damaged knee in 2010 to address joint pains that had been exacerbated by a workplace accident.
When the meniscectomy failed to alleviate the pain, Huang had a second operation in February 2013 and spent eight months out of work before returning to her job in October.
The company failed to pay her full salary during the eight months, prompting Huang to sue it.
The court heard the testimony of a coworker, who said the factory’s packaging technicians are responsible for loading and unloading seven double-decker industrial ovens, transporting as much as 5kg to 6kg per cartload.
To load the ovens, a technician performs 120 to 140 movements per day, requiring them to bend at the knees or waist, while unloading the ovens took 196 such movements per day, the coworker said.
The court said the testimony showed that Huang must have bent her waist or knees more than 300 times per work day, and a minimum of a million times during her years at the factory.
Medical reviews provided by Huang’s physicians said that while her injuries had multiple causes, the heavy lifting she had to perform at work was a crucial factor.
Huang had to undergo a second operation for work-related injuries and therefore she was entitled to full paid leave, or NT$140,000 more than the compensation her employers gave her, the verdict said.
The ruling can be appealed.
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