Members of 22 civic groups on Monday rallied outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei to demand that workers get the same treatment as civil servants, who are entitled to pay when taking leave to look after family members.
Civil servants are paid if they take family care leave, while workers employed by the private sector are not, Awakening Foundation secretary-general Chyn Yu-rung (覃玉蓉) said.
For more than a decade, civic groups have demanded equal treatment for private-sector workers, but the government has always been reluctant to address the issue, Chyn said.
Photo: CNA
When the Democratic Progressive Party was the main opposition party, it proposed that the same standard be applied to all private and public-sector workers, but the party has been in power for six years and so far nothing has happened, Confederation of Taipei Trade Unions president Chiu I-kan (邱奕淦) said.
The government needs to amend the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法), Chiu said.
According to Article 20 of the act, employees can request family care leave to take personal care of family members who need inoculations or have become seriously ill, or to handle other major events.
The act also stipulates in the same article that the number of family care leave days cannot exceed seven days in one year, while wages paid during family care leave are to be calculated based on the related statutes and administrative regulations governing leave for personal reasons.
Taiwan Association of Family Caregivers secretary-general Chen Ching-ning (陳景寧) urged the government to make the change.
The 22 civic groups participating in the rally also asked that the seven days of annual family care leave be increased to 14 days, and for more flexibility for workers in applying for family care leave.
The paid family care leave, if applied to the private sector, would impose a heavy burden on employers, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) told reporters on Monday.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data showed that firms would need to spend about NT$10.3 billion (US$363.2 million) per year if workers each took a day’s family care leave, he said.
Taiwan has many small and medium-sized enterprises, and the impact of paid family care leave would be huge, he said, adding that a consensus would need to be reached for it to be implemented.
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