The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said it would promote an act governing lawsuits over labor disputes to remove common obstacles that workers face when filing suits against their employer.
“The current legal system poses three major obstacles to workers seeking justice [in a civil court]. First, the process is too time-consuming. By the time they win a lawsuit against their employer, they would be almost starved to death,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said at the party’s caucus office in Taipei.
Second, lawsuits typically require expensive deposits, which are difficult for many people to afford, he said.
As a result, less than 3 percent of Taiwanese who have failed to obtain a satisfactory result from labor arbitration file a civil lawsuit, the former Academia Sinica research fellow said.
“Moreover, many judges, although well-versed in the law, lack professional knowledge of personnel management. While the Act for Settlement of Labor-Management Disputes (勞資爭議處理法) stipulates that a court can be set up to deal with lawsuits over labor disputes, in reality it makes little difference,” he added.
The party’s long-term goal is to establish a permanent court specializing in labor issues and improving the procedures for lawsuits is only a first step, Huang said.
The party proposed a draft bill governing the procedures of lawsuits for labor disputes on Dec. 29 last year, but the bill has yet been scheduled for review by the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
If passed, the law would be an important step toward realizing judicial reform and promoting labor rights, he said, adding that both have been emphasized by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as very important to her administration.
The party called on legislators across party lines to support the bill and said it hopes the bill can be passed during this legislative session.
Labor groups have been working to promote such a law for more than a decade as it would offer valuable protection for workers, who are typically disadvantaged in labor lawsuits, Taiwan Labour Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said.
The group plans to meet with other party caucuses to lobby for support for the bill, hoping it could be passed during this legislative session and take effect next year, Son said.
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