Discrimination against foreigners discussion

Taiwan Discrimination in Taiwan
1

I believe this falls under discrimination:

A former Taiwanese company that I worked for, who told me that foreigners are not eligible for the annual CNY bonus, only their Taiwanese employees.

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2

I think the question was directed at people from Taiwan, asking if they’ve faced discrimination in other countries from non-Taiwanese people.

3

Oh well, I shared anyway. :man_shrugging:

4

Many many Taiwanese companies have policies like this, mostly aimed at SEA laborers, but it also indirectly affects westerners.

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5

Regardless, it’s still discrimination.

6

This is illegal.

But this topic is about discrimination against Taiwanese in other countries.

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7

Yes, but we need to keep things on topic here.

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8

Do you have any kind of reference to support that it’s illegal? I’d genuinely like to know.

My current company gives a bonus to foreigners that is much lower than what Taiwanese employees get. Is that also illegal?

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  1. what industry/sector you work in?
  2. what specifically did your contract say when you signed it about the exact minimum bonus each year?
10

Any kind of discrepancy in remuneration based on residency status or nationality between employees in the same job function is illegal.

Now, if your Taiwanese coworkers have a different job title and role, that’s a different story.

I’ve asked this question in the past and someone linked the specific law. I’ll see if I can find it.

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11

It depends on your title, contract and remuneration table.

Also do you have proof of them saying that?

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No, it’s illegal, no matter what the contract says.

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It still depends. But I should clarify.

One could argue that the remuneration table is different in this contract than others. And… the contract has no provision for a bonus.

But if the contract explicitly says “only Taiwanese get annual bonuses” then yes that would be illegal.

Also if there are no bonuses included in both the Chinese and English versions of the contracts, yet the business has a policy of giving bonuses to Taiwanese staff, that would be illegal too. (But difficult to prove as the company may simply say the employee didn’t score high enough on some random evaluation to get a bonus… and it just so happened that it was all the foreigners…)

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14

Ah I see what you mean now.

15

@Marco posted this before:

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Not very specific, I know. He might be able to find a more specific law.

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16

Another problem with workplace based discrimination is that as soon as you begin legal proceedings against an employer (even when they’re the ones doing the wrong thing) your reputation with them is damaged forever.

It’s to big of a risk for many people to take if they want to stay with an employer after the proceedings. It’s easier to find another job and then go after them but by then you have got a job with a company doing the right thing (hopefully) so it isn’t worth the hassle.

My boss is overall and generally a nice guy but he let slip to my colleague that he’s glad he found a non-American native English speaker cos ‘Americans cost more’.
As if he’s not the one who decides how much to pay? so now I feel discriminated against for being non-American but there’s nothing I can do about it and I have no way to prove it and it’s not worth it because I don’t have $ figures and I want to keep my job.

You gotta pick your battles

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17

I totally agree with this, and it’s why I haven’t done anything about this situation with either employer. But of course, it’s always in the back of my mind and bothers me a lot around January.

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18

Just do it at the very end as a goodbye gift when you’re about to quit. Kind of like a nice little middle finger wrapped in a bow.

At least that way they’ll think twice about discriminating against the next hire. Pay it forward.

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I am probably the minority, but I won’t have a problem hiring someone whom I knew sued their former employer, as long as I checked out the details and it turns out the person justifiably did so. Especially because people are often scared of picking fights with a bigger opponent. If they did do so despite this, then such an ex-employee probably has a strong moral compass.

Agree, don’t let exploitative employers get away with it for the sake of pragmatism. It kicks the bucket down the road for the next naive foreigner who gets sucked in.

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20

I wouldn’t have a problem either as long as the employee won the case.