An investigation is to be launched into allegations that Books.com.tw (博客來) decieved an illiterate cleaner who spent 20 years with the company into signing away statutory employee benefits, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
Attorney Chen Yu-hsin (陳又新) on Friday said on social media that the cleaner had only realized she had been a contractor rather than an employee after Books.com.tw told her it would be terminating its contract with her.
Books.com.tw required her to strictly follow rules for employees regarding clocking in and out, working hours and which areas of the retailer’s Taipei-based office she needed to clean, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of books.com.tw
Books.com.tw’s treatment of the cleaner made her an employee of the company, entitling her to such statutory benefits as healthcare coverage, labor insurance coverage, a pension and a severance package as required by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), Chen said.
Chen said Books.com.tw took advantage of her illiteracy to trick her into signing away her statutory benefits by hiring her as a contractor rather than an employee.
Wang Hou-wei (王厚偉), director of the ministry’s Department of Employment Relations, yesterday said that the ministry had demanded that the Taipei Department of Labor investigate the allegations.
If it is shown that the company was in an employer-employee relationship with the cleaner, it would be required to redress any breach of its obligations as stipulated in the act, including providing severance and a pension, said Yeh Ssu-yen (葉思延), head of the Taipei Department of Labor’s Labor Standards Division.
President Chain Store Corp, which owns Books.com.tw, said that it had removed Chiang Cheng-hsin (江呈欣) as general manager of the retailer with immediate effect.
President Chain Store said it has launched an internal investigation into the case.
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