Nationality is a protected class in Taiwan
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I would be a little surprised if that were the case here in Taiwan. “Place of origin” probably is intended to cover more local issues. But I would be happy to be wrong. Do you know of any interpretations here that support that point of view?
I’m not sure about Taiwan, but in the US, “nationality” is just an outdated class which was replaced by “place of origin”. They wanted to make sure that even if a foreigner later becomes a US citizen, that they still cannot be discriminated against.
They’re both just more precise and politically correct ways of referring to someone who is a “foreigner”.
Things can be different here. Unfortunately, the only way to find out for sure may be making a complaint to the CLA. Sometimes, obliquely and tactfully raising the possibility of that course of action to an employer can magically clear things up, however. Obviously it could go the other way too, so one has to make their own calculations.
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Do you have a link to a website that explicitly says that nationality is a protected class in Taiwan? It would really help put this matter to rest.
(I know “place of origin” is a protected class, which I took to mean the same thing as nationality/residency status, but others disagree.)
Thanks! This solves it. I didn’t even think to look up the law in Chinese.
It’s also good to see in the same sentence that the law gives protections to ALL who live in Taiwan, and not just citizens.
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I tried to have my friend prosecute our buxiban boss cause he is Taiwanese Canadian and I am Italian Canadian. I got $600 and he got $300 for being Taiwanese but he just wouldn’t sue him like I did. Coulda had a nice payout.
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That’s really nice! How did it turn out? It could be a really good precedent
This may have something to do with the minimum salary for ARC holders (not sure though if TARC falls into this category).
Foreigners holding white-collar ARC need to be paid a minimum salary of NT$47,971, (as far as I know). I bet many employers pay this reluctantly.
It’s common for employers to pay locals between NT$25,000 and NT$35,000 (whenever they can).
Though this doesn’t mean that your sister’s employer isn’t acting in bad faith, since they are going back on their word.
P.S. I work for a Taiwanese company too and am about to get my Taiwan ID, hopefully next week. If they tried to pull this on me, I would just quit.
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…But it’s okay that Taiwan pays 900k migrant workers less than Taiwanese and mistreats them horribly in many cases …Legally.
I know that’s not what you are saying, but it’s okay for almost all Taiwanese that this is the case .
So it’s very hard to feel sorry for Taiwanese people when a few foreigners in the country are being paid more.
Thanks for the info. Actually a friend of mine just confirmed this with me as well. You’re right, it’s not just cram school teachers. It seems all foreign professionals employed in the private sector on a short-term basis on a work visa has a separate higher minimum salary than locals.
In my sister’s case, it’s not really a matter of her employer surprising her with this info. She knew what she was getting into when she was hired, but she just wanted to double-check the legality of it.
In any case, thanks for the info.
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Tempo! It’s 2022!!! 
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There are two separate questions here.
- Can the employer discriminate on the basis of residency status?
- Can the employer lower the employee’s salary on the basis of residency status?
If the answer to #1 is no, the answer to #2 must also be no, but even if #1 is permitted, #2 is obviously not permitted because the employer can’t lower the employee’s salary on any basis, unless the contract provides for it, as in Party B’s salary shall drop by 50% upon Party B becoming an ROC resident or Party B’s salary may be revised at Party A’s discretion. I doubt that’s in anyone’s contract, though I could be wrong.
Residency status is not the same as nationality or national origin (which would actually be place of origin, 籍貫). Of course they’re related, and in some jurisdictions you would have a very strong case that residency status is tantamount to nationality and/or race for the purpose of discrimination. (In Ontario you can’t even safely list “Canadian experience” as an asset in a job ad because it’s presumed to be an attempt to filter out minorities.)
This being Taiwan, you can expect a narrower interpretation (when it suits the employer) and less reliance on precedent. 
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Good input there. My question is, if something is not mentioned in the contract, doesn’t that mean either party has the right to change its mind at any point, or at least it’s subject to dispute?
Even if the employer can’t do that, it can always choose to come up with a new contract after the current one ends if it’s acting in bad faith, no?
Short answer:
But seriously, salary is not specified in the contract?! 
If the contract is silent on such an essential item, the logical way to handle it would be to say the wage was implied at the time of signing the contract, and look, I got paid X per unit of time for the first few months, ergo that is clearly my wage (no distinction between salary and wage btw).
For the employer to say yes and it was also implied at the time of signing that your salary would automatically go down as soon as you became a Taiwan resident, they would need something to back that up. If the best they can come up with is well that’s what we pay all our local employees, I don’t think that would fly.
Yes, but they can’t terminate the original contract early, unless they have a valid reason for doing so. Using LSA Art. 11 (or 13) would require them to pay severance pay.
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Thanks for your input. As I mentioned in a follow-up post above, my sister already knew what she was getting into when she was hired. Her employer was upfront about having to cut her salary in the future when she gets an ID card.
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I would still fight it and/or find a better employer.
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