The Taipei Doctors’ Union and two former doctors at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital yesterday accused the hospital of downplaying accusations of sexual harassment and imposing a light penalty on a male executive.
Taipei Doctors’ Union president Chen Liang-fu (陳亮甫) and the two female doctors, along with New Taipei City Councilor Huang Shu-chun (黃淑君) of the Democratic Progressive Party, held a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, urging the hospital to carefully review the cases to guarantee a safe working environment for female employees.
One of the doctors, who wished to remain anonymous, said the former department director had forced pregnant employees to work the overnight shifts, did not let them avoid procedures that would expose them to ionizing radiation and verbally bullied them.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Doctors’ Union
When a female worker was in a recovery room after a miscarriage, the director allegedly rubbed her breasts with his hands, she said.
The director also allegedly asked a female worker to go to his office to discuss “workplace bullying,” where he grasped her hands and told her that “your hands are warmer than mine,” she said.
Another female doctor accused the department director of forcibly rubbing her hands and kneading the back of her neck, which she strongly asked him not to do, but he continued, so the doctor later left her job, she said.
She said the victims had filed sexual harassment complaints with the hospital, but the administration failed to protect the victims, and the grievance committee failed to avoid conflicts of interest.
After three doctors filed complaints, the director received a minor demerit for each case, and the cases were not publicized in the hospital as in previous incidents, she said.
The victims were not even notified of the punishment, and when they found out and asked the hospital to reconsider, it refused to provide them with details of the investigation or its disciplinary reasoning.
The union said the director is still an official of a doctor’s association, holding academic resources and authority, raising concerns that other young female doctors might be at risk.
Shuang Ho Hospital in a statement said that it received complaints about alleged physical harassment on June 18, and immediately initiated an investigation and care mechanism, including arranging for the female employee to be moved to another office space to avoid contact.
It said that two other female employees who left their jobs also filed complaints on July 28 and Aug. 8, and its gender equality committee concluded in its final review meeting on Aug. 25 that the three sexual harassment complaints were substantiated, and the director was removed from his management post, which was announced to the hospital on Aug. 29.
As the cases are in judicial proceedings, the hospital is not at liberty to comment or respond to the individual cases, the hospital said, adding that it has zero tolerance for gender inequality and sexual harassment, and acts promptly according to the law and internal regulations.
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