Taiwan employers must pay migrant workers quarantine fees

The Labor Ministry of Taiwan announced on Wednesday that foreign workers should notify the authorities if their owners or employment agencies require them home quarantine charges. Violators will face a severe penalty. Stockbrokers will additionally have their operations halted for one year, and authorities will also disqualify employers from hiring foreign employees. The Taiwan Ministry of Labor’s Workforce Development Agency announced it had collected complaints from migrant workers alleging their employers asked them to pay more than NT$20,000 (US$700) for their 14-day quarantine losses. According to the local rule, each migrant worker must undergo a 14-day home confinement and observe isolation restrictions in arrival.

That mostly represents unpaid vacation by employers, but qualified migrant workers can demand for quarantine daily fee of NT$1,000 per day (about 35 US$). Costs faced during the quarantine period, including accommodation, must be paid by the company or employment agency. They cannot require the payment to people in quarantine. There have also been objections from migrant workers that their owners and intermediaries refused to meet quarantine expenses. They denounced money for isolation charges had been decreased from their salaries. The labor authorities in Taiwan said that if a company asks the migrant worker to pay quarantine fees, he could call a dedicated hotline and ask for help.

The Government announced fines for employers and agencies accrediting for quarantine. That includes a forfeit up to NT$300,000 (US$10,524). And ineligibility from hiring or contracting a foreign worker. Plus, a penalty of 20 times the amount required to the migrant employee, and ban of services for no more than one year for businesspeople.

According to latest statistics, 700,000 foreign laborers are working in Taiwan. Most of them are from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, usually employed in factory work, caregiving, and fishing.  Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour latest data show that migrant workers in the country can be divided into two major categories: social welfare like domestic helpers and carers, and industrial work like fishermen, factory and construction workers. About 38 per cent of them – the largest group – are Indonesian. According to Article 52 of the Employment Service Act, foreign workers are allowed to work in Taiwan for a period of not more than 12 accumulated years.