Death
If the death of the insured person is caused by accident on duty or occupa- tional sickness, a compensation payment is made of up to 40 months of the worker's average wage. If death is due to an off-duty accident or non-occupational sickness the compensation payment varies from 13 to 30 months of the average wage, based on the length of time the insurance has been in force.
For the death of the parents or spouse of the insured person, a compen- sation payment of two months of the insured's average monthly wage is pro- vided. For the death of a child under 10 years of age, there is a payment of 1 month of the average monthly wage, and for the death of a child over 10 years, 11 months.
There are separate schemes for sugar cane farmers, fishermen and civil
servants.
Social insurance premiums are 4% of wages of which employers are required to contribute 75% of the premium with the remainder paid by the insured person.
At June 1968, the latest date for which figures are available, the number of persons insured under the main industrial workers scheme was 518,420. In 1967/68 the number of claims made by persons in this class was 124,059 resulting in benefit payments totalling NT$ 214,907,887.
With regard to labour legislation, the Factories Act applicable in Taiwan has very broadly similar safety preventions to that of ours in the United King- dom. The great difference lies in the effectiveness of the enforcement of the Factories Act and to give one specific example, we were assured that women and young persons were not allowed to work nights and yet, in the majority of factories, we visited, women were doing just this, and this is apparently accepted so long as no-one makes any fuss about the employment.
The "China News", an influential daily newspaper in Taiwan, published the following leading article on 6th January, 1970:
Seven-Day Work Week
Taipei's Bureau of Social Affairs is threatening to crack down on employers that require a seven-day week.
Labor law prescribes one day off a week but some enterprises ignore the requirement and do not give additional compensation for the seventh day.
People who need work badly do not protest. They get a day off only once in a while when the boss is in a generous mood or when the entire business or plant is shut down, as for the Chinese New Year holidays.
The warning of the Bureau of Social Affairs is an expression for the record and will not be heeded by Scrooge-like employers.
Government lacks the personnel to check on employers and doesn't have the apparatus to bring violators to justice. The job is so big that no country has ever succeeded in carrying it out.
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