Employers Must Remember to Enroll Their Summertime Part-Time Student Workers in Labor (Employment) Insurance and Contribute to Labor Pension
The summer vacation is coming. Many students will use this period to work part-time, gain work experience, and earn some pocket money. The Bureau of Labor Insurance (BLI) would like to remind employers that, although summertime jobs are part-time and short-term, they must enroll their student workers in the Labor (Employment) Insurance on the first day of employment and contribute to their Labor Pension to ensure occupational safety and labor rights of the student workers.
As the BLI explains, when applying for enrollment of summertime part-time student workers in Labor (Employment) Insurance and contributing to their Labor Pension, insured units only need to provide truthful information of these workers’ actual monthly wages. The BLI will automatically classify the workers into appropriate categories according to the Table of Grades of Labor Insurance Salary and Table of Monthly Contribution Classification of Labor Pension. If a student worker is a part-time employee, please make sure that a note stating “part-time” is added to the enrollment application form when enrolling him/her in the insurance, so that the Labor (Employment) Insurance premiums and Labor Pension contributions can be calculated and charged correctly. In addition, if all the employers of a student worker performing two or more jobs are mandatory insured units (e.g., companies or firms employing five or more employees), each employer shall enroll the worker in Labor Insurance. Furthermore, if the Labor Standards Act applies to all the worker’s employers, each employer must also contribute to the Labor Pension on behalf of the worker.
To remind insured units to comply with the laws, the BLI has printed a notice on the back of the insurance premium payment slips (sent at the end of June) for May this year (2020) that attention should be paid to the rights of summertime part-time student workers with regard to Labor (Employment) Insurance and Labor Pension; it must not be misunderstood that enrolling a student worker in Labor (Employment) Insurance is unnecessary because he/she has enrolled in the National Health Insurance (NHI) as a dependent. Student workers may also inquire whether their employers have enrolled them in the insurance and contribute to their Labor Pension by using their Citizen Digital Certificate, Chunghwa Post ATM Card or Labor Protection Card, by telephone, or over the counter, as to ensure the protection of their personal rights and interests at any time.
In addition, if a summertime student worker enrolled in the Labor Insurance suffers an injury at work by accident, he/she may, in accordance with relevant regulations, request the insured unit to fill out the Labor Insurance Occupational Injury/Illness Outpatient Treatment Form or an application form for hospitalization, and bring his/her NHI card to a NHI-designated hospital/clinic to seek medical services. In doing so, he/she may be exempt from medical expense copayments and enjoy a 50% discount from hospital meal charges within the first 30 days of hospitalization. If the worker is unable to obtain the aforementioned Occupational Disease/Injury Medical Treatment Form upon receiving medical treatment, he/she may still apply to the BLI for refund of self-advanced medical expenses on the day of clinic visit or within 6 months after being discharged.