New Power Party (NPP) lawmakers yesterday named Nan Shan Life Insurance Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) as among the nation’s top enterprises most fined for contraventions of labor law, in a call for stronger legal protections for workers’ rights.
Taiwan must enhance penalties for enterprises that contravene the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), NPP legislators and representatives of the Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, citing Ministry of Labor data.
Nan Shan Life Insurance topped the list after receiving labor rule violation fines of NT$17 million (US$532,448), an amount that nearly equaled the sum of the next nine companies’ fines combined, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
Photo courtesy of the New Power Party caucus
This behavior “suggests the company believes it is above the law,” Chiu said.
Carrefour Taiwan, which frequently appeared in previous editions of this ranking, incurred fines worth NT$4.34 million in connection to labor rule violations, making it the second-worst this year, Chiu said.
TSMC was the next-worst employer on the list, having been fined NT$2 million last year, he said.
Breaking rules on overtime pay, illegal overtime practices and failing to comply with work-hour regulations are the three most common labor regulation violations, Chiu cited ministry data as showing.
The manufacturing, retail, hospitality and restaurant, transportation and warehouse industries were the most prolific breakers of work hours and overtime regulations, he said.
Labor law stipulates that enterprises that contravene labor regulations can be fined up to NT$1 million, which offers no deterrence, he said.
The NPP caucus has proposed amendments to the labor law that would triple the fines for non-compliance to ensure the dignity of labor is upheld in Taiwan, he said.
The remainder of the rule-breaking enterprises were Taoyuan Bus, Zhinan Bus Co, Hualien Passenger Transport Co, Kuang-Hua Bus Co, United Highway Bus Co and Grape King Bio Ltd, union chief executive officer Chu Mei-hsueh (朱梅雪) said.
This means six out of 10 of Taiwan’s employers with the worst labor records are from the transportation industry, she said, adding that there is hardly ever a year that goes by without the bus companies being caught committing wage theft, illegal overtime practices or overworking employees.
The industry “takes subsidies in one hand and pays fines out the other,” she said.
The nation’s shortage of labor inspectors — many of whom are working longer hours than legally allowed and being underpaid like the workers they were supposed to protect — shows that the Ministry of Labor has some labor standards problems itself, Chu said.
The ministry has a shortage of inspectors and is largely under-resourced at the local level, she said.
NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華), who presented a list of construction companies with the highest number of Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法, OSHA) violations, said all entities on her list were construction companies.
The worst offender of the group was Kuocheng Construction (國城營造), which was fined 69 times for a total of NT$5.56 million, she said.
This figure averaged out to six OSHA breaches per month, and the ministry’s heaviest penalties seems to have no effect on the company’s behavior, Chen said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS