The tragedy has been all over the news for the past few weeks. A civil servant who claimed to have been bullied by their superior, former Work Development Agency's northern regional office director Hsieh I-jung (謝宜容), committed suicide at work. Their death sparked justified outrage and triggered an investigation by the Ministry of Labor, which found that Hsieh’s behavior toward her subordinates had indeed been abusive, and ultimately led to her dismissal on this ground. Even though the investigation identified the heavy workload, high stress, and lack of support, rather than Hsieh’s bullying, as the direct cause of the suicide, the seriousness and commonness of the situation lead to the question: from a legal perspective, what can you do if you believe that you are a victim of workplace harassment or bullying in Taiwan? Please note that this article will treat only the case of private sector employees, as most foreigners in Taiwan seem to be employed in the private sector.

1.No Legal Definition

The first thing to note is that there are no legal definitions for the terms “workplace harassment” and “workplace bullying.” These terms do not exist in the Taiwanese legislation. As a result, employees are not protected specifically against workplace bullying. That means that there are neither specific legal remedies available to victims nor specific sanctions against workplace bullies. Still, Article 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires that employers “adequately plan and adopt the necessary safety and health measures (…) to prevent wrongful physical or mental harm caused by the actions of others during the execution of job duties.” In other words, the lack of workplace bullying-specific provisions in the current legislation does not mean that victims are left without any legal recourse. As a matter of fact, the notion of “wrongful harm” as used in the abovementioned legal provision is not too distant from that of “workplace bullying.”

2.Wrongful Harm

In August 2022, the Occupational Health and Well-Being Section of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued "Guidelines for the Prevention of Wrongful Harm in the Performance of Duties," defining “wrongful harm” as the wrongful physical or mental harm inflicted by an employer, supervisor, co-worker, service or other third party in the workplace upon an employee in the performance of his or her duties. Instances of “workplace violence” and “sexual harassment” are expressly cited as examples. Appendix 6 of the Guidelines then goes on to provide employers, supervisors, and other potential workplace bullies with a list of problematic behaviors requiring self-adjustments, among which “belittling the person being bullied in front of others,” “giving the person being bullied unrealistic work objectives,” or “not allowing the person being bullied to take time off.” If you have been on the receiving end of any of these behaviors at work, then there are strong reasons to believe that you have been “wrongfully harmed.”

3.Things to Consider Before Going Any Further

There are two things you should consider before going any further. Firstly, you might want to try to address the issue internally, by taking it up to HR or even directly to the person or people whom you believe has/have been mistreating you. Unless you do so, the possibility that the whole situation stems from serious miscommunication issues cannot be completely excluded. Secondly, if you determine that the treatment you have been receiving does not result from miscommunication issues but rather come from a place of hatred or malice, and decide that you want to fight back, then you will need to provide evidence to back up your claims. Collect and save aside your relevant work emails, communication software conversation records, psychological records, medical reports, even audio or video recordings of non-private conversations and meetings (e.g. conversations or meetings attended by several people) if you can.

4.Complaint

Article 39 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act provides that “workers may file complaints with the employers, the competent authority, or labor inspection agencies if one of followings is discovered: (…) 3. Physical or psychological harm. The competent authority or labor inspection agencies may conduct an investigation to verify the measures taken by the employers in the preceding paragraph to prevent and respond to such occurrences.” Therefore, provided that you have sufficient evidence of the physical or psychological harm you have suffered, one thing you can do is file a complaint to have the situation formally investigated. To do so, just call 1995 for the Ministry of Labor’s Labor Consultation and Complaint Hotline. They provide consulting and complaint filing services in English for free.

5.Litigation

In addition or as a (more costly) alternative to filing an administrative complaint, you may want to initiate criminal proceedings and/or civil proceedings against the person/people who has/have been bullying you. Criminal proceedings will typically aim at having this person or these people punished, whereas civil proceedings will typically aim at getting indemnification from them. There are many legal grounds upon which you can do so, but note that which grounds you should cite and whether you will succeed will ultimately depend on the specifics of your case and the admissible evidence you are able to provide. In any event, we recommend consulting a lawyer prior to taking legal action.

Disclaimer:

This material was prepared by law firm staff for educational purposes only. Use this to spot issues to discuss with your lawyer, not as a replacement for a lawyer. You should not rely on this info. It may not be appropriate for your circumstances. It may be out-of-date or otherwise inaccurate.

Reference Materials:

1. Taiwan labor ministry official fired over bullying suicide incident | Taiwan News | Nov. 21, 2024 12:27 (Accessed on November 27, 2024);
2. Occupational Safety and Health Act - Article Content - Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (Taiwan) (Accessed on November 27, 2024);
3. Enforcement Rules of the Occupational Safety and Health Act - Article Content - Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (Taiwan) (Accessed on November 27, 2024); and
4. 執行職務遭受不法侵害預防指引-第三版(含附錄) (Accessed on November 27, 2024).

by 黃愷蜜 顧問