Hostels and hotels in Yilan County yesterday began recalling workers on unpaid leave after a Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ subsidy program for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic went into effect.
To be eligible for the program, a business must have seen its business last month plunge 50 percent compared with March last year and must be operational, without downsizing staff or asking more than 20 percent of employees to take unpaid leave or pay cuts.
The subsidies would provide 40 percent of each employee’s monthly salary, to a maximum of NT$20,000, for three months.
The Yilan County Government said 18 businesses applied to have more than 500 employees take unpaid leave due to the pandemic, with the hospitality industry accounting for eight of the firms and more than 400 employees.
Half of the hospitality industry businesses, mostly larger hotels, have recalled a total of 403 employees from unpaid leave, county statistics showed.
The county said the hospitality industry has benefitted the most from the ministry’s program and it is the one industry that could sustain prolonged operations.
However, any industry or business could apply to have its unpaid leave status revoked, the county said.
Employees on mutually agreed-upon unpaid leave for more than 30 days can also apply to a Ministry of Labor (MOL) program that would provide them with half of their monthly salary, to a maximum of NT$11,000 per month, for six consecutive months, the county said.
The Yilan County Labor Affairs Department said it would conduct 1,000 health inspections for small firms and service industry businesses that have fewer than 100 employees.
It would also offer assistance for workers applying for the MOL subsidies and provide career training programs.
The department also called on employers to establish breastfeeding rooms and childcare facilities at work.
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tzu-miao (林姿妙) said the county government would comply with the central government’s policies and work with industries and workers to weather the pandemic.
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