Wage Arrears Payment Fund Takes Care of the Workers When They Can’t Receive Wages as a Result of Business Suspension
Employers, as a whole, are facing increasing difficulties in business operation due to the influence of pandemic and global economic status. If a worker, unfortunately, is unable to receive his/her wages, pension or severance pay due to business suspension of the company, the financial burden will directly impact the life of the worker. According to the BLI, the government has established the Wage Arrears Payment Fund, providing timely support to stabilize the life of the workers when they are unable to receive the wages, pension or severance pay from the company.
The Wage Arrears Payment Fund is allocated by and collected from all employers applicable to the Labor Standards Act on a monthly basis, being 0.025 percent of the total insurance salary under the labor insurance program. If, due to suspension of business, liquidation or declaration of bankruptcy by his/her employer, a worker is unable to receive the wage within six months prior to such events on time; or is unable to obtain the pension/severance pay under the Labor Standards Act or the severance pay under the Labor Pension Act ,the total amount shall not exceed six times of the monthly average wages), the employee may apply to the BLI for repayment of the part which he/she has requested the employer to pay but to no avail. The BLI shall in turn seek arrears payment from the employer. The purpose is to take care of the life of the workers. Based on the BLI’s statistics, the accumulated amount of wage arrears paid as at the end of July, 2022 has exceeded NTD7,458.84 million and benefited 79,238 workers.
The BLI reminded the workers that, when they are unable to receive their wages on time, they may firstly seek assistance from the competent authority where the business entity is located, enabling the authority to understand the operating status of the entity as early as possible. This will also help the worker to prepare the required documents and facilitate the application process for the wage arrears payment. Such documents include the proof of business suspension, proof of creditors’ rights and other information relating to the wage arrears payment. For more details, please visit the BLI’s global website under “Wage Arrears Payment ”.