The International Association of Family and Employers with Disabilities yesterday said that the Ministry of Labor’s misappropriation of the employment stabilization fund (ESF) has harmed the rights of employers and families with disabilities, and called for cuts or exemptions to ESF contributions for disadvantaged households.
The Control Yuan recently censured the ministry and its northern branch for misuse of funds, discovered during an investigation into a workplace bullying incident that resulted in the suicide of a civil servant last year.
It impeached ministry officials, including former Workforce Development Agency northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), and reported organizational failures, such as a lack of mechanisms to prevent workplace bullying and misappropriation of the ESF.
Photo: Screen grab from the IAFED Facebook page
The ESF is made up of monthly fees paid by employers of migrant workers in some sectors, including fishers, domestic caregivers and helpers, as well as construction workers engaged in designated government projects.
It is meant to fund policies and measures to mitigate the impact of hiring migrant workers on Taiwanese in the local job market.
The association expressed its support for the Control Yuan in issuing censures and requiring the ministry to implement improvements.
Families with disabled members often lack caregivers due to long-term care needs and therefore need to hire migrant workers, which incurs a monthly ESF fee of NT$2,000, it said.
The funds should be used to improve labor conditions or support disadvantaged workers, instead of being spent on irrelevant or extravagant expenses, it said.
The misappropriation of funds seriously infringes on employers’ rights and further burdens families with disabilities, it added.
The association called on the ministry to recover the misused funds, review its policies and follow the Control Yuan’s recommendations to ensure funds are allocated appropriately.
It should also consider reducing or removing ESF obligations for families who hire migrant workers to meet disability care needs, it said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
RSS