• Last updated:2021-10-18

The MOL issued a ruling today (October 7^th) that stipulated employers shall pay female employees regular wages during maternity leave, the wages shall be calculated based on the wage of a normal full day’s work before taking maternity leave, and the amount of wages shall not be lower than the employee’s average wage.

The Minister of Labor Chen Hsiung-Wen indicated that Article 50 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates if the female employee has been employed for more than six months, she shall be paid regular wages during the maternity leave, while if her period of service is less than six months, she shall be paid wages at half of the regular payment. The term “paid regular wages” in the article originally required employers to pay wages in the amount specified on the labor contract. When the wage was a fixed amount, this interpretation did not result in too many disputes. However, an increasing number of labor contracts now include performance, sales or production based floating wages. Some employers refused to pay this floating wage, arguing that female employees do not have any performance, sales or production during maternity leave, and were only willing to pay the basic wage. This severely damaged the rights of female employees and the MOL therefore actively reviewed relevant regulations.

The MOL explained that wages are the compensation employees receive for the work they do, and bonuses, allowances or compensation under any other name are all within the scope of “wage” in the Labor Standards Act, not just the base salary or wage. The ruling specially noted that if the female employee’s received a monthly salary, the wage received during maternity leave shall be calculated based on the monthly salary divided by 30 for each day. Considering that relatively poor physical condition before childbirth might affect the work performance of female employees, the ruling also specified that if the amount from the abovementioned calculation method is lower than the female employee’s average wage, then the average wage shall be used instead, i.e. the female employee’s total wage in the 6 months prior to childbirth divided by the number of days in the period.

The MOL reminded that the ruling takes effect today (October 7^th, 2014), and the wage of employees currently on maternity leave shall be calculated on this basis from this day forth. In the event employers are found in violation of this ruling, an administrative find of NT$90 thousand or above but no more than NT$450 thousand shall be imposed on the employer in accordance with the Labor Standards Act. Laborers who have any legal questions should consult their local competent authority of labor (department or bureau of labor or social affairs).

• Source:Department of Standards and Equal Employment
• Publication Date:2014-11-19
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