The government should not leave workers at the mercy of its policies and should offer partial wage compensation, New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said. Precedents set during the SARS outbreak should be observed, he said, adding that the government, after asking the private sector to calculate wages for paid leave, subsidized that amount during the 2003 outbreak. The federation said that educators should be eligible for paid disease prevention leave. Working parents taking such leave would be for “the greater public good” and neither employers nor employees should have to take responsibility for approving or taking the leave, federation president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said. As the Ministry of Labor stated that the disease prevention leave is an emergency measure applicable to all parents of children 12 or younger, teachers should not be exempt, Chang said.

Source: Taipei Times February 05, 2020 15:56 UTC