Before hiring employees in Taiwan, there are a few important things you’ll need to know. Firstly, in Taiwan, employees who have worked for their employer at least six months are entitled to eight weeks fully paid maternity leave. If they have worked for less than six months, the rate is lowered to 50%.
It’s also important for employers to know that in Taiwan, employees receive half of their pay for up to 30 days of sick leave. When an employee’s illness is covered by labour insurance, but it's compensation is less than half of the employee’s salary, their employer pays the difference.
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Get an overview of what you need to know when hiring in Taiwan below.
13th month salary is not required but is customary and generally provided at Lunar New Year.
Employees in Taiwan work eight hours a day, 40 hours a week.
It is also mandatory in Taiwan to have two days off every seven days, one of which is a compulsory day off during which an employee cannot agree to work; the other day off is flexible and work on these days is negotiable.
In Taiwan, working hours cannot exceed 12 in one day, and maximum overtime is 46 hours per month.
Overtime work is paid at 134% for the eighth to 10th hours worked in a day, and 167% for the 10th to 12th hours worked in a day.
Overtime work on a “flexible day” off is paid at a higher rate of 134% for the first two hours, 167% for the second to eighth hours, and 267% for eighth to 12th hours.
Employees can choose to either be paid for their overtime work or be granted compensatory leave equal to the number of hours of overtime worked.
In Taiwan, three months is a customary probationary period.
The notice period for dismissals in Taiwan is based on the length of employment. The breakdown is as follows:
These notice periods are also mandated for employees on indefinite-term contracts resigning.
Employees on fixed-term contracts of over three years can resign after the completion of their contract with 30 days' notice. Employees on fixed-term contracts of less than three years can only resign if there are serious grounds for resignation or with the employer's agreement.
Non-compete agreements must be reasonable in scope and include compensation for the employee. Such compensation can be in the form of cash, securities, or any other valuable property or asset, and must not be less than 50% of the employee's average monthly wage at the time of termination.
The agreement cannot be for longer than two years.
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In Taiwan, annual leave is dependent on the years an employee has worked for their employer. The breakdown is as follows:
Unused vacation days can carry over to the following year. If these vacation days aren’t used within two years, they’re converted into salary and paid according to the employee’s first-year wage.
Employees in Taiwan can take:
The combined number of sick days taken cannot exceed one year within a two year period.
Employees in Taiwan get half-pay for up to 30 days of sick leave. When an employee’s illness is covered by labour insurance, but it's compensation is less than half of the employee’s salary, the employer pays the difference.
When employees use up all their sick days, they can ask for additional unpaid days off. The maximum of unpaid sick leave the employee can take is one year.
Employees who have worked for their employer at least six months are entitled to eight weeks fully paid maternity leave. If they have worked for less than six months, the rate is lowered to 50%.
Employees are also entitled to five days of fully paid paternity leave.
An employer’s total social contributions in Taiwan include:
In Taiwan, employees pay between 5% and 45% in taxes depending on their income bracket. They also pay a social security tax of 11.69% which includes labour insurance, pension fund, national health insurance, and employment insurance.
Employees are entitled to severance pay in addition to a notice period or pay in lieu of notice. For employees hired after 2005, the prescribed severance pay is equal to 50% of an average month's wages for each year of service—not to exceed a total of six months wages.
Employees who have worked for less than a year are entitled to severance pay in proportion to the months of service.
Setting up a business entity everywhere you want to hire a new employee isn’t scalable—it takes too long and the legal fees are high. At the same time, understanding and adhering to the local labor laws and employee expectations can be complex and time consuming. And it’s hard to find reliable information on up-to-date employment information for all the countries where you’re considering hiring. Not to mention tracking down invoices and managing employee contracts over email and spreadsheets—that gets messy fast.
We can’t afford to take risks when it comes to compliance—we need to make sure we follow the local guidelines, especially when it comes to taxes and legalities.
With Oyster, you can manage HR and payroll, and automate compliance across 180+ countries—all in one, easy-to-use platform.
