Chapter Ⅰ General Provisions
Article 1
The Act is enacted to provide minimum standards for working conditions, protect workers' rights and interests, strengthen employee-employer relationships and promote social and economic development. Matters not provided for herein shall be governed by other applicable statutes.
The terms and conditions of any agreement between an employer and a worker shall not be below the minimum standards provided herein.
Article 2
The terms used in the Act shall be defined as follows:
1. Worker means a person who is hired by an employer to work for wages.
2. Employer means a business entity which hires workers, the responsible person of business operations, or the person who represents the business owner in handling labor matters.
3. Wage means the remuneration which a worker receives for his/her services rendered, including wages, salaries and bonuses, allowances and any other regular payments regardless of the name which may be computed on an hourly, daily, monthly and piecework basis, whether payable in cash or in kind.
4. Average wage means the figure reached by taking the total wages for the six months preceding the day on which an event requiring that a computation be made occurs, divided by the total number of days in that period. In the case of a period of service not exceeding six months, the term "average wage" means the figure reached by taking the total wages for the service period divided by the total number of days of that period. In the case of wages which are computed on a daily, hourly, or piecework basis, if the "average wage" figure reached according to the preceding formula is less than sixty percent of a figure determined by dividing the total wages for the particular service period by the actual number of work days, the "average wage" in this case shall be the sixty percent figure.
5. Business entity means any entity engaged in any of the business (or industries) that are governed by the Act, which employs workers to do work.
6. Labor contract means an agreement that establishes an employee-employer relationship with subordination to authority.
7. A dispatching entity means an entity engaged in labor-dispatched business.
8. Dispatch-requiring entity means an entity that is actually supervising and managing a dispatched worker doing his/her job in accordance with a dispatch-requiring contract.
9. Dispatched worker means a worker who is employed by a dispatching entity but actually works for the dispatch-requiring entity.
10. Dispatch-requiring contract means an agreement concerning labor-dispatched matters between a dispatch-requiring entity and a dispatching entity.
Article 3
The Act shall be applicable to the following business (or industries):
1. Agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry,
2. Mining and quarrying,
3. Manufacturing,
4. Construction,
5. Water, electricity and gas supply,
6. Transportation, warehousing and telecommunications,
7. Mass communication, and
8. Other business (or industries) designated by the Central Competent Authority.
When making designation referred to in Subparagraph 8 of the proceeding paragraph, a portion of the workplace or part of workers in the business entity may be designated as applicable.
The Act shall apply to all forms of employee-employer relationships. However, this principle shall not apply, if the application of the Act would genuinely cause undue hardship to the business entities involved due to the factors relating to the types of management, the administration system and the characteristic of work involved and if it belongs to the business (or industries) or worker designated and publicly announced by the Central Competent Authority.
The total number of workers employed in the business entities which will encounter genuinely undue hardships and shall not be applicable to the Act, shall not exceed one-fifth of the total number of workers employed outside of the business (or industries) as listed in Subparagraphs 1-7 of Paragraph 1 to this article.
Article 4
The term “competent authority” referred to in the Act shall be the Ministry of Labor at the central level, the municipal government at the municipal level, and the county (city) government at the county (city) level.
Article 5
No employer shall, by force, coercion, detention, or other illegal means, compel a worker to perform work.
Article 6
No person shall interfere in the labor contract of other persons and obtain illegal benefits therefrom.
Article 7
An employer shall prepare and maintain a worker record card indicating the name, sex/gender, birth date, place of ancestral origin, educational background, address, national identification card number, employment starting date, wage, labor insurance starting date, merits and demerits, injury and disease and other significant facts of each worker.
The worker record card referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be kept on file by the employer for at least five years after the date a particular worker ceases to be employed.
Article 8
An employer shall take precautions for the safety and benefit of his / her hired workers against occupational hazards, create a proper working conditions and provide welfare facilities. All safety, sanitation and welfare matters related thereto shall be governed by the regulations of applicable statutes.