Taiwan approves bill for workers’ accident insurance in small companies

Besides enlarging the insurance safety net to include 330,000 workers employed by these smaller firms, the bill would provide permanent disability benefits based on the severity of a worker’s injury sustained on the job instead of the length of time a worker has been employed. 

Once passed, the bill will make it compulsory for employers, regardless of the size of the company, to sign their workers up for the insurance on their first day of work, said Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour. 

Currently, employment laws only require that companies with five or more workers to provide labour insurance, while insurance enrollment is voluntary for companies which employ less than five workers. 

In addition, even if their employers have failed to properly insure them, the bill would allow workers to apply for occupational injury payments by providing a legal avenue for them to recover the amount that is owed, the ministry said. 

The ministry added that the maximum monthly insured salary – used to determine insurance benefits – would be increased from NT$45,800 (US$1,600) to NT$72,800 (US$2,544). This new upper limit would cover about 90% of salaries, compared with 73% covered by the current maximum. 

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On the other end of the spectrum, the minimum monthly salary would be NT$24,000 (US$839) or the minimum wage, plugging loopholes as the insured salaries of some hourly workers have been found to be as low as NT$11,000 (US$384), the ministry said, according to Focus Taiwan.