It seems to exist in some forms in different arenas, even sometimes coming with rewards: laws.mol.gov.tw/Eng/FLAW/FLAWDAT0202.asp
I ask because, yes, I have something. It’s potentially big, but for a private organization, not a public agency.
I’m not hunting for a reward, and I’m going to the Labor Bureau anyway, but I would like to know what protections there are.
[quote=“ehophi”]It seems to exist in some forms in different arenas, even sometimes coming with rewards: laws.mol.gov.tw/Eng/FLAW/FLAWDAT0202.asp
I ask because, yes, I have something. It’s potentially big, but for a private organization, not a public agency.
I’m not hunting for a reward, and I’m going to the Labor Bureau anyway, but I would like to know what protections there are.[/quote]
The reason why there is so little progress in the realities of labor law and employment benefits, is Taiwanese swallowing the crap they receive from their boss without complaining. Safety issues or other typical whistle blowing issues are out of the question as far as reporting goes, when even the most basic injustices (i.e. docking paychecks, under-reporting salaries for pension purposes) are not acted upon. Indiscretion and rumors (likely by the same colleagues who now seem to back you up) will ensure that the organization you want to report on will soon enough know it was a “chao mafan de waiguoren” causing trouble. Because to Taiwanese this is causing trouble and not some sort of civic duty.
If you want to change something, then make sure it is an anonymous complaint. Do not go in person. Go to a 7-11 or Family Mart far away from your place of work or residence and send a fax to the labor bureau. Do not tell anyone you are doing this. Not even your gf or wife.
I’m not interested in rants. I just want data. Are there any legal provisions that protect whistle-blowers from certain kinds of legal retaliation?
To answer your question, there are no special provisions through any act in the private sector as there are in the public sector.
You are as protected or unprotected as any average Joe filing a police complaint because he saw something suspicious going on. Hence my long initial reply to your post.
Therefore, any legal action thrown at you by the organisation you report, depend on whether you can prove them / show that you did not have malicious intent / were right to report whatever you saw because you had reasonable suspicions. Otherwise you will likely find yourself prosecuted for slander (Art. 310 ROC Criminal Code) or one of the offences specified in Art. 168-171 ROC Criminal Code.
OP, my post was not a rant but a realistic view on the situation. I advise you get yourself a lawyer and pay for his answers if your patience does not go beyond three lines of text, rather than scold people who give you a realistic assessment free of charge.
Hsinhai, you’re the resident expert, but I don’t think you’re right. After the pollution scandal at ASE in Kaohsiung last year or the year before, city governments announced whistle-blowing measures for serious violators that rewarded the tipster with up to 60% the value of the fine. I’m sure you can find plenty of news on it, but here’s a random one from YouTube:
The problem with this is your complaint is likely to be trashed and not even make it to any investigator’s desk. The Taiwanese government does not take anonymous complaints seriously because it could be anyone with their own agenda, ie, a competitor making shit up. If you have proof and you are willing to provide that, then I see no harm in adding your name to it, depending on what you have, of course.
Don 't believe me? They say so:
[quote]Authorities that investigate / process cases of violations reported shall record all necessary information in designated files and classify the reports with confidential sealing whether it is obtained through written, oral, telephone, fax or email reports.
Authorities that investigate/ process cases of violation reported shall conduct the interview with the person reporting violation and record the relevant information as following: name, ID number /ARC number / passport number, residential status, contact number, and
concrete proof of violations (e.g., person(s) involved, time(s) of violation, number of people involved, location(s) of violation and concrete evidences, if any), etc.
Should any of the following events occur, the investigating /processing authorities aforementioned may turn down the reporting:
(1) Anonymous reporting, or unable to confirm the identity of the person reporting the violation
(2) No concrete information on the time, date, location and duration of violation and no evidences for the violation reported.
(3) The report of violation has already been reported and proved true.
laws.mol.gov.tw/eng/EngContent.asp?MsgID=324
[/quote]
[quote=“ehophi”]It seems to exist in some forms in different arenas, even sometimes coming with rewards: laws.mol.gov.tw/Eng/FLAW/FLAWDAT0202.asp
I ask because, yes, I have something. It’s potentially big, but for a private organization, not a public agency.
I’m not hunting for a reward, and I’m going to the Labor Bureau anyway, but I would like to know what protections there are.[/quote]
The second link yields a blank page. What’s the name of the law?
Article 168 doesn’t apply unless it’s in a “trial” or stated to a “prosecutor” (I assume this means it only applies if you go to the Judicial Yuan i.e. a law court), and Article 170 doesn’t apply unless you accuse a family member, so talking to Labor should carry no risk of these. You may be at risk of Article 169 or Article 171, but to be convicted of 169 there would need to be proof that you had the “intention to cause another to receive penal or disciplinary punishment”. Article 171 only applies if you don’t name a specific offender. Article 310 only applies if you go public or if making the information public is your “purpose”.
Of course, you’re safe from 168-171 if you have solid proof, and the same goes for 310 as long as you don’t mention irrelevant details of anyone’s private life. (There’s also Article 311 which exempts “fair comment” from 310.) If you go to mediation or arbitration, the laws on those also allow administrative fines for false statements.
If you file a complaint (petition) at the Labor Inspection Office, they can’t reveal your name to the employer unless you give them permission in writing. (I’m basing this on how it works in Taipei; other cities may have different policies.) If you don’t, the company won’t have any proof you made the complaint and therefore won’t have a case against you. Of course they might guess and retaliate in some other way, but not by having you charged. I doubt the LIO would want to have you prosecuted unless they had a strong case that you were intentionally wasting their time – imagine the fallout of the publicity otherwise… And likewise if there’s a procedure to have a court order issued for the release of your identity, I assume that’s not easily accomplished.
The only specific protection as far as labor rights goes, afaik, is Article 74 of the Labor Standards Act, which prohibits “any unfavorable measure” against an employee who complains (whether to the employer or to the government). The penalty for retaliation (Article 79) is $20,000 to $300,000 and being named and shamed (Article 80-1) but usually just in a long list of companies on an obscure page of a government website. Of course if you get fired without a valid reason, there’s also severance pay.
I’m not familiar with the procedures for filing complaints in other departments (fire safety etc.).
I’ve since gone to a free legal consultation on this matter and have another arranged in the coming week:
Here were the key points from the first:
[ul]
[li]There were no civil suit protections for reports of criminal acts using their “private documents.” If my contract stipulated some penalty for obtaining private documents (mine does), the company can still litigate it.[/li]
[li]These penalties are written in one of two ways: (1) as a fixed amount or (2) a percentage of damage caused by release of these materials. In either case, judges generally reduce or eliminate contract penalties if the contract violator shows that (a) he didn’t try to publicize his information, sell it to competitors, etc. and (b) the documents are evidence in a criminal case.[/li]
[li]The stuff that YYY said above is true.[/li][/ul]