The number of male civil servants and public education personnel applying for paid paternal leave has risen to 3,633 from 2,332 four years ago, an increase of 55.79 percent, the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration said yesterday.
The policy has increased the readiness of public servants and educators to apply for paid paternal leave, with the number of people applying for such leave rising to 61.65 percent, up from 51.96 percent since the policy’s implementation on July 1, 2021, the agency said.
The agency said it would continue to work with Executive Yuan policies on paid leave for public and education personnel to uphold economic guarantees.
Photo: CNA
It added that it is looking into employees’ needs for childcare facilities and is working with other government agencies to fulfill such needs.
In compliance with the expansion of birth subsidies that took effect on Jan 1, female civil servants and education personnel would be eligible to receive up to NT$100,000 per child, and the agency would foot any funding discrepancy, it said.
According to the agency’s expected annual budget, it is allocating NT$1.57 billion (US$49.9 million) for subsidies for marriage, beareavement, childbirth and children’s education for civil servants and public educators for this year, up NT$48 million from the previous fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the budget for parental leave is NT$179.36 million, down NT$32.8 million from last fiscal year.
Elsewhere, the Ministry of Labor yesterday said that the Executive Yuan has approved disbursing funds for increased birth subsidies, and people who have given birth beginning this year should receive NT$100,000 before tomorrow.
The subsidy was supposed to take effect on New Year’s Day, but it was not available because the general budget had not been reviewed.
About 18,000 people are expected to receive the subsidies, the ministry said.
Cash rewards of NT$1,000 under the ministry’s flexible paid leave system, which went into effect this year for companies with 30 or fewer employees, allowing workers to take one day of paid maternal or paternal leave, had not been available due to delays in the legislature’s review of the general budget, the ministry said.
The funding would be paid to employers on May 27 if employees under their company who are eligible for the payout and have taken leave between January and March. The ministry said that the employer’s account has to be registered for 15 days before the announcement.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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