The Control Yuan yesterday censured the New Taipei City Jinshan District Office and demanded that the city’s government discipline personnel over negligence of duty resulting in death through overwork of office worker Chen Chia-wei (陳嘉緯) in August last year.
The Control Yuan’s investigative report said that the district office had cut corners by employing Chen under numerous titles and salaries — ranging from NT$27,434 to NT$34,916 per month — to manage public relations and news announcements.
Chen was tasked with reviewing and approving content posted online, meaning he shouldered great responsibility, despite having little authority, a violation of the spirit of employment, the report said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
In the month before his death, Chen had logged more than 100 hours of overtime, and worked an average of 85 hours of overtime per month for the six months prior to his death, it said.
The district office’s two directors had failed in their duty to protect their employee and had worked Chen to death, constituting a major oversight, it said.
That the directors claimed Chen’s overtime was due to his sense of responsibility and high standards was apparently a move to shirk responsibility for the death, the report said.
The district office breached the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), which an inspection by the New Taipei City Labor Standards Inspection Office on Aug. 9, 2018, had failed to discover, the report said.
The report urged the city government to look into the issue and implement remedial measures.
The directors are being held responsible, as they were tasked with employing Chen and defining the responsibilities of his job, it said.
Chen faced all of the restrictions of a civil servant in terms of overtime pay, but he did not receive the benefits of the position, it said.
The Examination Yuan and its Directorate-General of Personnel Administration should consider regulations to prevent similar incidents, the report said.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said that the city government would look into measures to protect workers’ rights.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hui
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS