The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Civil Service Protection Act (公務人員保障法) that clearly define, set penalties and improve complaint handling procedures for workplace bullying in government agencies.
The amendments define workplace bullying as behavior by personnel within the same agency who use power, influence or opportunity to harass or abuse someone.
Bullying can include repeated threats, insults, discrimination, humiliation, isolation or any other hostile, coercive or offensive conduct that leads to a hostile work environment harmful to the physical or mental health of civil servants, the amendments say.
Photo: CNA
In severe cases, the bullying does not need to be ongoing.
Under the amendments, the time limit for filing complaints has been set at five years for cases involving the misuse of power and three years for those that do not.
If a senior official or department head is found guilty of workplace bullying, they would face a fine of NT$500,000 to NT$1 million (US$16,928 to US$33,857), the amendments say.
If the death of a civil servant occurs due to failure to implement appropriate health and safety protection measures, the person responsible would face a sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of up to NT$2 million.
Any retaliatory or unreasonable treatment against civil servants who suggest improvements to health and safety measures, or who file workplace bullying complaints, would result in fines ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$75,000, which could be imposed repeatedly.
Those made aware of instances of workplace bullying who fail to take effective measures to stop it, or who fail to implement the legally required health and safety protections within a set deadline after official notification, would face a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$1.5 million.
If failure to provide appropriate safety and health protections results in a major disaster, meaning three deaths or more, the person responsible would face three years in prison, detention or a fine of up to NT$1 million.
The amendments would also improve complaint and incident handling procedures, as the Civil Service Protection and Training Commission would be required to convene a health and safety incident review panel to handle investigations and decide on penalties. The panel would consist of five to seven academics or experts.
Under the amendments, the commission could inspect or instruct higher-level agencies to inspect any institution reported to have improper or inadequate health and safety protections, or workplace bullying prevention measures.
If any contraventions are found, the agency must be informed and given a deadline to make improvements. If it fails to do so, the issue would be handled based on the severity of the infraction, the amendments say.
The amendments would take effect six months from their promulgation.
Additional reporting by CNA
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