The government is drafting amendments to extend parental leave benefits by granting each parent an additional month of subsidies if both parents have completed the initial six-month period, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today.
The initiative aims to encourage more balanced participation in domestic caregiving regardless of gender, Cho was quoted as saying by Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) at a news conference.
Speaking ahead of Mother’s Day, Cho said at today’s Cabinet meeting that maternal love takes many forms, including traditional mothers, fathers acting as mothers, grandparents, foster parents and caregivers.
Photo: CNA
He expressed gratitude and respect for people undertaking caregiving responsibilities, saying that their resilience and hard work bring warmth and stability to families and society.
To help citizens balance family life and their careers, the government has been promoting a gender-friendly workplace by introducing more flexibility, he said, citing policies allowing parental leave to be requested on a daily basis and family care leave to be calculated by the hour.
Under current regulations, each parent is eligible for a subsidy covering up to six months of unpaid parental leave per child.
The subsidy amounts to 60 percent of the insured person’s average monthly insured salary over the six months prior to taking leave, with the government providing an additional 20 percent wage subsidy, bringing total benefits to 80 percent of a person’s salary.
The proposed legal amendments would grant each parent a subsidy covering one additional month of parental leave if both parents have already received six months of parental leave benefits, Cho said.
The Long-term Care 3.0 program has already been launched as part of efforts to build a more comprehensive family support system, Cho said.
The new policy expands respite care services and enhances nighttime and emergency care capacity to reduce the burden on caregivers, he said.
The government would continue to promote gender equality to ensure a supportive environment that reaches every corner of society, he said.
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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