Labor rights for Taiwanese citizens (reduction of hours, constructive dismissal)

Legal Legal - Work
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Talking to my girlfriend, she told me that the school she works for openly admitted to her that if students didn’t like her, they would just cut all her hours but refuse to fire her since they would be required to pay if they fire an employee.

This can’t be legal can it? What can she do about this? She said there’s no guarantee of hours in the contract.

It’s not the end of the world because she has an extra job. But it still boils my blood

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to the best of my knowledge it is not illegal. treating an emplyee badly so they quit on their own accord is a shitty thing to do, but not unheard of.

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It’s a grey area. Treating someone so badly that they quit on their own accord would still need to be paid severance but it’s hard to enforce. If they’re doing this, then call the labour affairs centre in your city/county.

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I’m guessing their are labour rights for taiwanese citizens. what @Marco said

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In North America this would be called constructive dismissal. (I’ve edited the thread title.)

Even if the LSA applies to this job, it’s difficult to deal with it unless

  • the worker is paid by piecework (not hourly/daily/weekly/monthly), in which case LSA Art. 14 Par. 1 Subpar. 5 applies; or
  • the change of work conditions is formalized through a change of position (調動), in which case Art. 10-1 applies.

There are other strategies, but they’re more open to interpretation:

  • factual misrepresentation at the time of signing the contract (LSA Art. 14 Par. 1 Subpar. 1);
  • breach of contract, if there is concrete evidence of a supplementary agreement to the contract for it to include certain hours or a certain number of hours (LSA Art. 14 Par. 1 Subpar. 6); or
  • a “serious occurrence” caused by the employer (Civil Code Art. 489).

Or better yet, make a list of other violations by the employer, such as not paying for overtime and holidays, and use that to invoke LSA Art. 14 Par. 1 Subpar. 6.

Of course she should talk to the labor department and/or a lawyer.

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