The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft amendment to the Labor Pension Act (勞工退休金條例) to include foreigners who hold permanent residency in the new labor pension system, under which employers are obliged to contribute funds to their employees’ pension accounts.
The change was proposed to establish a “friendly environment” that can help attract foreign professionals to come and work in Taiwan, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) was quoted by Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) as saying.
Lin said he would instruct the Ministry of Labor to communicate with lawmakers on the amendment in the hope that it can clear the legislative floor as soon as possible.
Unlike the previous version, under which 2 percent to 15 percent of a worker’s monthly wage is deposited in a pension reserve fund, the system implemented in July 2005 stipulates that an employer must deposit an amount equivalent to at least 6 percent of a worker’s monthly wage into an individual labor pension account in the worker’s name, while the worker can voluntarily contribute a maximum 6 percent to the pension account.
There have been 6.32 million workers who have had funds allocated to their pension accounts, and the allocation rate on the side of employers has reached an almost perfect level of 99.8 percent, said Sun Pi-shia (孫碧霞), a welfare and retirement affairs division chief at the ministry.
With the amendment, foreigners who work in Taiwan and have permanent residency will be able to enjoy a more secure retirement in Taiwan, she said.
As of Sept. 30, there were 12,682 foreigners with permanent residency in Taiwan, Sun said.
The amendment also extends the timeframe for a beneficiary’s collection of the pension after the death of a worker from five years to 10.
Employers who fail to pay pension or severance compensation will also be faced with higher fines, the official added.
After yesterday’s approval, the bill will be delivered to the legislature for deliberation.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the