In line with the government’s long-term retention program for migrant workers, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Tuesday issued a notice that employers must begin setting aside pension funds for blue-collar foreign workers who have worked for the same employer for more than 10 years.
The new regulation is to take effect in April, the ministry said.
Department of Employment Welfare and Retirement Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said that while blue-collar foreign workers are covered under the old labor pension system, employers were previously exempt from making contributions on their behalf.
Photo: CNA
That exemption stemmed from earlier interpretations that treated migrant workers — a general term that refers to blue-collar workers from outside Taiwan, mostly the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam — as “supplementary labor,” since they were previously allowed to stay in Taiwan for only up to six years, Huang said.
The ministry issued the new directive after the implementation of the long-term retention program, which allows migrant workers to stay longer and therefore qualify for pensions, he said.
The Control Yuan earlier this year instructed the ministry to review its previous policies in light of extended work periods for migrant workers and to assess whether past exemptions might contravene the law, he added.
Employers are required, per the older pension regulations, to contribute between 2 and 15 percent of a worker’s total monthly wage to their pension fund, the notice said.
For migrant workers who have been employed by the same company for 10 years or more, their wages must also be included in the company’s overall pension reserve calculation, it added.
While more than 7,000 companies in Taiwan employ blue-collar foreign workers, not all have established pension accounts under the old retirement system, Huang said.
Local governments should assist employers in setting up such accounts in preparation for the regulation’s implementation next year, he said.
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