There is good news for parents with children taking public office exams! The Judiciary and Legal Affairs Committee of the Legislative Yuan today (12th) passed the preliminary review of the "Draft Amendment to the Civil Service Examination Act", which relaxes the childcare application requirements from raising children under the age of 3 to personally raising children under the age of 8 or grandchildren until they are 9 years old. Those who cannot be trained immediately due to care needs can submit evidence. Those who have been admitted can apply to retain their admission qualifications, and those who have been added to the waiting list can apply for delayed allocation of training.
Today, the Judicial Committee continues to review a total of seven "Draft Amendments to the Civil Service Examination Law" proposed by the Examination Yuan, the ruling and opposition parties, and legislators. The current provisions stipulate that those who have been admitted can apply to retain their qualifications for up to three years because they are raising children under the age of three. The draft version of the examination board originally planned to relax this to include raising children or grandchildren under the age of seven.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Zhang Yalin, Zhuang Ruixiong, Fan Yun and others proposed an amendment motion in accordance with the consensus between the government and the opposition on the "Gender Equality Work Law" on the 11th, changing the childcare conditions to "personally raise children and grandchildren under the age of 8 until the child or grandchild reaches the age of 9." DPP Legislator Shen Fahui reminded that the motion clause should be written as "under 8 years old" and the reason for the amendment should be written as "under 9 years old". It was recommended that the terms be unified.
Liu Mengqi, Minister of Examination and Selection, explained that the two age terms have the same meaning. The difference in the applicable end date comes from the fact that the article also lists "until the age of 9". It is recommended to use the "Sex Work Law" negotiation terminology to reduce application disputes. If there are any doubts about interpretation in the future, you can also ask the "Sex Work Law" competent authority for assistance.
In addition, Fan Yun asked if the admitted person is a gay parent and the joint adoption process for the child is still in progress, can he apply to retain his admission qualifications on the grounds of taking care of the child. Officials from the Civil Service Security and Training Commission responded that as long as biological or adopted children are recognized as children of the admitted applicant in accordance with the law and meet the age and other requirements stipulated in the regulations, they can certainly be accepted and retained, regardless of whether they are gay or lesbian.
After discussions with legislators and officials present, the preliminary review provisions expanded the applicable age for children of regular admissions, included grandchildren, and removed the restriction on spouses who have already taken care of children. The retention period is until the children or grandchildren are under 8 months old and up to 9 years old, and the period shall not exceed 3 years. Those who are admitted with an additional quota are relaxed in terms of care recipients and ages compared with those admitted with a regular quota, and it is specified that the training will be delayed for up to 3 years due to childcare or raising grandchildren, and that those delayed due to military service will be limited to the legal service period. The implementation date of this amendment is set by the Examination Yuan. The whole case is exempt from party group consultation. The review report and accompanying resolutions are submitted to the Yuan meeting.
The preliminary review also passed a supplementary resolution proposed by People's Party legislator Chen Zhaozi, requesting the Examination Yuan to discuss and revise the "Measures for the Distribution of Passed Civil Service Examination Personnel" within one month in conjunction with the Executive Yuan. It is clearly stipulated that regular and additional admission personnel who have been allocated for training may apply for reassignment within the specified time from the date of becoming aware of the situation due to illness, pregnancy, childbirth, critically ill parents, serious children, raising children under the age of three, or other irresponsible reasons.
