A employer came under fire after they paid a migrant worker NT$8,938 — all in coins.
The case was revealed by a migrant worker service center in Hsinchu City on Facebook on Friday.
The migrant worker, identified only as S, had worked as a caregiver for a Taiwanese family for four years, and was also required to assist with the family’s dining cart business, the center said.
Photo: CNA
She was exhausted because she had been working overtime for a long time, but her agent did not help after she lodged a complaint, the center said.
She had asked to leave to find another job, but the employer asked her to stay until they could replace her, it said.
When she refused to work any longer, the employer allegedly became angry, saying that she would receive her wage and would have to pay NT$40,000 in compensation for leaving earlier than planned.
S then called the foreign workers’ toll-free hotline 1955 to file a complaint, but the employer found out, the center said.
After more disagreements with her employer and her agent, she was introduced to the center, which helped her by holding negotiations on Friday.
During the meeting, the employer agreed to allow S to change jobs and pay her remaining wage, but the payment was made entirely in coins, which filled up two bags.
The meeting’s participants were dumbfounded by the coins, Taoyuan Department of Labor Foreign Worker Affairs Section chief Chen Chiu-mei (陳秋媚) said yesterday.
“Is there any problem with the coins? They are national currency,” Chen quoted the employer as saying.
Chen said that she asked the employer to carry the two bags of coins to a nearby post office, which helped change them into bills, adding that despite the employer’s poor attitude, they cannot be penalized.
In its Facebook post, the center said the employer had contravened the law by asking S to do extra work and did not pay her overtime.
“Taiwanese betray their vilest side in the treatment of migrant workers,” it said.
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