By Hsieh Chun-lin and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerChina-based Taiwanese manufacturers should not require their Taiwanese employees to return to work before COVID-19 is sufficiently under control in China, a lawmaker said yesterday, adding that Taipei should implement stricter policies to ensure workers’ safety. Policies for disease control in China are chaotic and nontransparent, posing an extreme health hazard to China-based Taiwanese workers, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Taiwanese who work in China should be protected by their companies and the government, Hung said. Labor law experts have three categories for Taiwanese working in China: those sent by Taiwanese firms on short-term, task-based trips; people working long-term at a subsidiary of a Taiwan-based company that has control over the subsidiary’s management; and people working at a firm in China unrelated to Taiwanese firms, he said. For the first category, the Civil Code grants legal grounds for an employee to refuse the task, while the government should broaden the authority it has to intervene, he said.

Source: Taipei Times February 17, 2020 15:56 UTC