There is no window for pregnancy care for migrant workers. The Ministry of Labor plans to shorten the waiting period

Many families apply for foreign home care, but the migrant worker becomes pregnant soon after arriving in Taiwan, or becomes seriously ill and cannot take care of a patient at home. If the migrant worker agrees to terminate the contract, the employer has to wait 1 to 2 months to hire a replacement migrant worker. In more cases, the migrant worker is unwilling to terminate the contract and is unable to work, so the family employer, who is a worker, has to put down work to take care of his family. Labor Minister Hong Shenhan promised to review early next year to shorten the one-month waiting period for pregnant migrant workers and simplify the CMS evaluation process so that employers who agree to terminate the contract can expedite the hiring of new migrant workers.

Minister of Labor Hong Shenhan went to the Social Welfare and Sanitation Committee of the Legislative Yuan today to give a business report and prepare for questions. In view of the recent protests by employer groups about the disruption of care manpower for seriously ill families after migrant workers became pregnant, escaped or resigned, they asked Labor Minister Hong Shenhan to publicly debate the policy, which aroused the attention of many legislators.

Many legislators, including Huang Xiufang, Liao Weixiang, Chen Jinghui, etc., today questioned the situation of migrant workers becoming pregnant in Taiwan in recent years. They are also concerned about whether the Ministry of Labor can shorten the waiting period when families with serious illness are faced with the fact that the originally hired migrant workers are unable to work due to pregnancy. After the contract is successfully terminated, they have to wait for about 1 to 2 months before they can be rehired. Faced with great care pressure, the Ministry of Labor can shorten the waiting period.

Minister of Labor Hong Shenhan pointed out that he understands that the situation of family employers is different from the needs of corporate employers. Family employers are also workers, but related needs require inter-ministerial assistance. For example, the government has compiled a 52-day respite leave, but when many people need to use it, their elders have not yet done a CMS assessment. They need to discuss with the Ministry of Health and Welfare how to apply in advance or simplify the CMS assessment.

For families that employ migrant workers, when the caregiver falls ill on vacation, the employer can apply for a 52-day respite leave. The utilization rate of subsidies is increasing year by year. However, legislators questioned that many employers are faced with pregnant migrant workers who are unable to work and are unwilling to terminate the contract. Even after the contract is terminated, how can the 1 to 2-month nursing gap period be shortened?

Hong Shenhan pointed out that in the face of such a window period, after the contract is terminated by consensus, the government can apply to suspend the conversion at the same time, so that it does not need to take a month, and the quota can be obtained immediately. He hopes to reduce interruptions in all aspects and make the replacement more immediate.

Hong Shenhan promised to put forward a care window transition plan for pregnant migrant workers in January next year and clarify the priority of transitional alternative care. In addition, a manual on the rights of employers facing pregnant migrant workers will also be produced, which he hopes to submit within three months.