Members of 22 civic groups rallied Monday outside the Ministry of Labor (MOL) building in Taipei to demand that workers can get the same treatment as civil servants who are entitled to pay when taking leave to look after family members.
Currently, civil servants receive pay if they take family care leave, while workers employed by non-government agencies are not, secretary general of the Awakening Foundation Chyn Yu-rung (???) argued.
For over a decade, civic groups have demanded equal treatment for private sector workers but the government has always been reluctant to address the issue, Chyn said.
When the Democratic Progressive Party was the main opposition party in Taiwan, it had proposed that the same standard be applied to all private and public workers, but the party has been in power for six years and so far nothing has happened, Confederation of Taipei Trade Unions president Chiu I-kan (???) said.
The government needs to amend provisions to the Act of Gender Equality in Employment, Chiu lamented.
According to Article 20 of the act, employees can request family care leave to take personal care of family members who need inoculations or have become seriously ill, or to handle other major events.
The act also stipulates in the same article that the number of family care leave days will not exceed seven days in one year, while wages during family care leave will be computed based on the related statutes and administrative regulations governing leave for personal reasons.
Taiwan Association of Family Caregivers secretary-general Chen Ching-ning (???) urged the government to make the change.
The 22 civic groups participating in the rally also asked that the seven days of annual family care leave be increased to 14 days, and for more flexibility for workers in applying for family care leave.
The paid family care leave, if applied to the private sector, would impose a heavy burden on employers, director of the MOL's Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Huang Wei-chen (???) said in response to the press Monday.
Based on the 2020 data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, businesses would need to spend roughly NT$10.3 billion per year if private sector workers each took a day off on family care leave, Huang said.
Taiwan has many medium, small, and micro enterprises, and the impact of paid family care leave would be huge, he said, indicating that a consensus would need to be reached in order for it to be implemented.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel