Enroll in Employment Insurance even for just one employee, guarantee rights and avoid penalty

According to existing regulations, institutions that employ more than five employees are required to provide Labor Insurance. However, even if institutions employ just one member of staff, they are still required to enroll in Employment Insurance. Therefore, institutions that are not required to provide Labor Insurance (such as condominium management committees, cram schools, private clinics, civil associations, and companies that hire less than four employees) and are unwilling to participate in Labor Insurance are nonetheless required to enroll employees in Employment Insurance beginning from the day of employment.

The Bureau of Labor Insurance (BLI) has further explained that any employed laborers of ROC nationals, foreign spouses, mainland Chinese spouses, and Hong Kong/Macao spouses of ROC citizens who work legally in Taiwan (except for those covered by Civil Servant and Teacher Insurance or Military Personnel Insurance or those who have received Labor Insurance Old-Age Benefits or Civil Servant and Teacher Insurance Pension Benefits) who are between the ages of 15 and 65 are the subjects of compulsory Employment Insurance.

Employers who do not enroll their employees in Employment Insurance must pay a fine equivalent to 10 times the insurance premiums. If workers are unable to apply for Employment Insurance Benefits from the BLI (e.g. unemployment benefits, early reemployment incentives, vocational training living allowances, parental leave allowances, National Health Insurance premiums subsidy to the unemployed insured person and his/her dependants, etc.) due to lack of Employment Insurance coverage, employers must also compensate workers for their losses. Therefore, the BLI hereby urges institutions to comply with relevant regulations in order to protect employee rights.