A coalition of labor rights groups yesterday called for a law to require companies to give employees time off during typhoons or other natural disasters.
Undeterred by rain and wind brought by Typhoon Mitag, the Sales Worker Union, Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions, Awakening Foundation and other labor rights groups yesterday morning rallied outside the Legislative Yuan, holding placards urging a bill to be passed in the current legislative session.
When Typhoon Lekima struck Taiwan on Aug. 9, the government declared a typhoon day in eight cities and counties in northern Taiwan, the Sales Worker Union said.
Photo: CNA
However, a survey by the union found that 96.4 percent of clerks at department stores were still instructed by their employer to go to work, the union said.
Working on a typhoon day puts employees at great risk and could even cost them their lives, it said.
According to the Guidelines for Workers’ Attendance Management and Wages (天然災害發生事業單位勞工出勤管理及工資給付要點), workers can choose not to work on official typhoon days and employers are banned from treating it as absence without leave, but there is no punishment for employers who contravene the rules, the union said.
During typhoons Meranti and Malakas in 2016, 92 percent of department store clerks worked even though the government declared a typhoon day, and of them, 78 percent said they were not paid more or given any compensation, another union survey found.
Among the small percentage of store clerks who were given a typhoon day off, some had a day docked from their paid annual leave, the survey found.
Legislators from the Democratic Progressive Party, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party have together proposed seven versions of a bill for typhoon days, the union said.
All versions shared provisions that would guarantee employees the right to take a paid day off on government-designated typhoon days, it said.
They also required companies to pay their employees double and provide means or compensation for transportation if their staff chose to work on a typhoon day, the union said.
All seven versions have passed their first reading at the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 25, 2017, and need to be discusses at cross-caucus negotiations, it said.
As the current legislative session is the last before legislators’ terms end in January, the union urged them to begin cross-caucus negotiations soon.
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