TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A woman and her two adult daughters were charged with multiple offenses on Tuesday (May 23) after prosecutors investigated alleged serious mistreatment of a live-in Indonesian care worker.
On March 23, Taichung prosecutors raided the home of a woman named Hou (侯) in her 70s, who was the mother of two other women charged, both named Wen (文) and in their 40s, per CNA. The trio were charged with confining the migrant worker to the residence, beating her, confiscating her phone and passport, making her work for over 21 hours a day, and illegally docking her salary.
Hou hired the Indonesian carer after her son had a stroke in May last year.
Prosecutors said during the carer’s nine-month employment she had her head slammed against a wall, was stomped on, bitten, had water poured on her, and was forced to partially undress. The carer was also made to work from 6.30 a.m. to 3 a.m. each day, and had NT$10,000 (about US$325) deducted from her salary for doing her laundry five times, prosecutors said.
The carer’s employment agency was alerted to something being wrong after the woman’s spouse contacted them to say he had not heard from his wife in several months, after which the agency contacted the carer. They found the woman badly bruised and without any money.
The agency contacted Taichung’s labor bureau and immigration department. After police searched the residences of Hou and her daughters in late March, all three were detained. Hou was later released on a NT$50,000 bail.
According to government statistics, around 730,000 migrant workers were employed in Taiwan in 2022, making up approximately 6% of Taiwan’s workforce. The average salary for a migrant worker in Taiwan employed in care work was about NT$21,000 per month in June 2022.
On Tuesday (May 23) the Ministry of Labor announced it would ease immigration restrictions to allow an additional 28,000 migrant workers into Taiwan, half of whom will work in caregiving roles. Taiwan’s migrant workers are often sourced from Southeast Asian countries, work in caregiving, agriculture, or construction, and are attracted to Taiwan by the relatively higher wages on offer.
