TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei City Government Department of Labor on Monday (Dec. 26) announced that Books.com.tw is facing NT$60,000 (US$1,952) to NT$3 million in fines for duping a cleaner into signing an unfair contract, thus violating the Labor Standards Act (勞基法).
The cleaner's attorney, Chen You-xin (陳又新), wrote on Facebook that he had received a complaint from a client surnamed Lee (李) who worked as a "contractor" for the online bookstore Books.com.tw, and stated she had been employed by the company for over two decades but was never given severance pay or a pension after she was laid off. Chen said that the illiterate woman had been tricked by the company into signing a contract that waived all of those benefits.
Although Books.com.tw and Lee reached a settlement, Taipei's labor department sent personnel to the company to carry out a labor inspection on Monday and confirmed that the company and the cleaner were indeed in an employer-employee relationship and that the former had committed labor law violations.
During the labor inspection, officials found that the firm had not prepared a "worker record card" or salary records for Lee, nor did it ever give her annual leave. These actions constitute breaches of Articles 7, 23, and 38 of the Labor Standards Act, necessitating administrative penalty procedures.
The labor department stated that the fine for violating these three articles is NT$20,000 to NT$1 million each, for a minimum total of NT$60,000 and a maximum of NT$3 million. The final amount will be confirmed after giving Books.com.tw an opportunity to explain their actions.
The department pointed out that Lee has the right to benefits such as health care coverage, labor insurance coverage, a pension, and severance, but she had received none. As for the amount she is due in labor insurance, the Ministry of Labor will dispatch personnel to assess how much she is due.
Moving forward, the department called on Books.com.tw to hire workers in a legal manner in the future and that all of its business units should not misuse or abuse contracts to avoid harming the rights and interests of workers. It added that if workers encounter similar issues, they can notify officials through the HELLO TAIPEI-Taipei City Simple Petition System and request assistance.
