[Reporter Li Jinghui/Report from Taipei] The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the Employment Insurance Law on the third reading today (13th), decoupling the upper limit of insured salary from labor insurance, from the current upper limit of 45,800 Yuan, which is planned to be increased to at least 50,000 yuan in the future, so that high-wage workers can receive protection closer to their actual wages during childcare or unemployment. In addition, the 65-year-old upper limit for employment insurance has also been cancelled, allowing older working workers who have not yet received old-age benefits to continue to participate in the insurance, and also have the opportunity to receive unemployment benefits and childcare stay allowances. The new law is expected to go into effect on January 1 next year.
After the Legislative Yuan completed the third reading of the amendment today, the Ministry of Labor held a press conference at the Ministry of Labor to explain the details of the amendment. Minister of Labor Hong Shenhan pointed out that amendments to two laws were passed on the third reading today. The full text of the Gender Equality Work Law was revised to 7 articles and 2 new articles were added. The full text of the Employment Insurance Law was revised to 12 articles and 4 new articles were added. Key points include "full extension of maternity and paternity leave", "childcare until age 8", "childcare subsidy 6+3", "upgraded 60-day childcare leave", "enterprise childcare tax concessions", etc. It is hoped to achieve the three core goals of "creating a child-friendly workplace", "promoting more equal childcare sharing between parents" and "the government expands resources and system innovation to vigorously support childcare workers and enterprises to share the support system".
Chen Meili, director of the Department of Labor and Insurance, explained that this amendment to the law has significantly relaxed the age limit for children who are required to stay without pay for childcare. The age of dependent children has been significantly relaxed from the current under 3 years old to under 8 years old (under 9 years old). At the same time, the application conditions have been significantly relaxed, including shortening the insurance seniority threshold for parents. The employment insurance insurance years required to apply for the insurance are relaxed from the current requirement of 1 year to only 6 months of insurance, and the years of employment insurance across different insurance units can be calculated cumulatively. More importantly, the recipients of the Childcare Stay Allowance are broadened to include "custodial persons". Grandparents with custody can also apply for the Childcare Stay Allowance.
In addition, the original "Child Care Allowance" of only 6 months has been expanded to the "Child Care Stay Allowance" subsidy period. After both parents have received the allowance for 6 months, they can each claim an additional 3 months, and each can claim the child care allowance for up to 9 months. Together, the parents can claim the Child Care Stay Allowance for up to 18 months, thereby encouraging fathers and mothers to share the caregiving responsibilities.
In order to strengthen the function of promoting employment and punishing violations, this revision of the law deletes the upper limit of insurance coverage at 65 years old and expands the upper age limit for insurance coverage, so that older working workers who have not yet received old-age benefits can continue to participate in insurance and enjoy employment promotion-related protections. At the same time, the waiting period for unemployment benefits will be shortened from the current 14 days to 7 days, so that unemployed workers can receive financial support more quickly. At the same time, the payment standard for early employment assistance subsidies will be increased from 50% to 60% of the current unclaimed unemployment benefits, which will enhance the incentives for workers to actively return to the workplace.
This time, clauses on the disclosure of violations by insured units have also been added. If an insured unit violates the provisions of the insurance law and is punished, the competent authority will publish the name of the insured unit, the name of the person in charge, the facts of the violation and the amount of the penalty to urge the unit to comply with the regulations.
