August 24th news, due to the recent oversupply of the panel market, panel prices have continued to decline, and some panel factories have reduced their capacity utilization rate to 50% to 70%. Against this background, panel factories also encourage employees to take vacations.
Qunchuang issued an announcement on August 24, announcing the company's vacation plan. The internal system will deduct holidays uniformly and force employees to take leave. In response, the labor department of Taiwan, China stated that special leave and compensatory leave are arranged by labor, and employers cannot force employees to take a day off. The announcement of the group creation has violated the Labor Standards Law. The Ministry of Labor recommends that if the company has difficulties, it is necessary to consult with the laborer first.
Qunchuang announcement pointed out that September 12, 13, and October 5 to 7, 2022 are holidays. The internal system will deduct the leave in a unified order, including the order of deduction of leave (elastic leave), special leave and make-up leave. The company even borrows leave first (special holidays) and offsets next year.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor Labor Conditions and Employment Equality Huang Weichen said that it is not yet a mandatory holiday, and group creations may not be implemented. The Ministry of Labor has asked the Labor Bureaus of all local governments to understand the situation and employees can appeal. At that time, labor inspections will be conducted and fines will be issued if they are true.
Huang Weichen said that Article 38 of the Labor Benchmark Law clearly stipulates that special holidays shall be scheduled by workers, but employers may negotiate and make adjustments with other parties based on the urgent needs of the business or the workers due to personal factors. Huang Weichen said that the employer fails to coordinate with the labor force and has a one-sided announcement to stipulate special leave, which violates Article 38 of the Labor Standards Law and may be fined NT$20,000 to NT$1 million .
According to Article 24 of the Labor Benchmark Law, if an employer extends the working hours of a worker, his salary for extending working hours shall be paid overtime. Huang Weichen said that overtime pay should be paid for workers, unless the workers want to change the compensatory leave, the employer should pay for overtime. It is illegal for group creation to take workers to take compensatory leave. Because Qunchuang was a listed company and violated this law, he increased his fine of NT$50,000 to NT$1 million.
As for the announcement of Qunchuang, the priority for "bump-up break", Huang Weichen said that this was the case of one-day break after was launched. The 19-day statutory holiday was changed to 12 days. Some public institutions gave workers another seven days of flexible leave to use, but how to use the bump-up break depends on the agreement between the labor and capital parties at that time. These seven days are arranged by the labor, negotiated by labor, or the employer can force a break in specific circumstances. Qunchuang must use bump-up break without violating the previous agreement. In fact, it is very likely that the seven-day bullet break has been used up.
Huang Weichen said that the announcement of Qunchuang also mentioned that the pre-borrow special leave next year, "this is even more irritating." Special vacation is planned every year, and this year and next year are two different things.
In response, Qunchuang responded that in order to cope with the company's production capacity adjustment and take care of the physical and mental balance and health of colleagues, a charging plan that encourages colleagues to take continuous vacations will be implemented. September continues the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, and it is encouraged to take another two days of vacation from September 12 to 13. October is encouraged to take another three days of vacation from October 5 to 7. This arrangement is mainly to create the greatest convenience for colleagues and take a safe vacation. Regular shifts encourage vacations, and colleagues in production line shifts are flexible to adjust the production capacity of each production line.
Qunchuang said that it provides colleagues with free choices, and can choose to go to work for business considerations or adjust the number of vacation hours. In addition, the Chuangchuang prefers the law to give special pre-payment, allowing colleagues to take pre-trial and schedule their own trips during this period, without deducting personal salary. During this period of industry headwind, Qunchuang encourages colleagues to continue to maintain their mentality at work, and engage in reading and further study, leisure activities and interests. The company believes that colleagues relax and rest in time, and maintain better productivity and efficiency at work after charging.
In fact, it is not surprising that panel factories encourage employees to take leave. Similar measures were taken in 2008, 2010 and 2015 to respond to the panel economic cycle. However, employees are mainly worried about whether it will evolve into unpaid leave.
It is worth mentioning that according to the latest reduction of shifts (commonly known as unpaid leave) statistics released by the Ministry of Labor on the 24th, there are currently 2,971 and nearly 19,750 people on the island of Taiwan that have implemented unpaid leave, with an increase of 44 and 718 people in one week, with the largest increase in manufacturing.
Editor: Xinzhixun-Linzi Source: Business Times, Economic Daily
