A bill to ban age discrimination in the workplace yesterday cleared the committee stage at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The aim of the bill is to help boost the working rate of middle-aged and elderly people, protect their right to rejoin the workforce and encourage equitable employment opportunities.
The proposed legislation would bar employers from discriminating against an employee or job applicant because of their age in recruitment, hiring, job allocation, performance evaluation, promotion, wages and benefits, retirement or redundancy payments.
The bill defines middle-aged workers as those aged 45 to 65, while elderly workers are defined as those over 65.
The draft bill states that employers should be able to hire people aged at least 65 on fixed-term contracts and the government should provide subsidies to employers of older workers who pass on their professional experience to younger employees.
Enterprises that hire workers nearing 65 should also provide assistance to such workers one year before their retirement to help them find re-employment, the draft states.
People who believe they have been discriminated against due to age would be able to file a complaint with their local labor affairs authorities, and their employers would not be allowed to fire or transfer them while the complaint is investigated, the draft bill states.
Employers found to discriminating on the basis of age could be fined from NT$300,000 (US$9,825) to NT$1.5 million, while those who fire an employee who has filed a complaint or subject them to any form of punishment, such as a transfer, could be fined between NT$20,000 and NT$300,000.
The Ministry of Labor would be authorized to publish the names of companies or their owners that subject any of their employees to unfair treatment because of their age and order them to make improvements within a certain time or face fines.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS