萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Labor Pension Act through three readings on June 15, 2015. According to the amendment, workers may open an individual account for labor pension; and, even if the worker is in debt, his/her savings in the labor pension individual account is not subject to offset, seizure, pledge, or compulsory execution procedures. The purpose of this amendment is to secure the basic living and economic safety of workers after retirement.

According to the current Labor Pension Act, an employee may transfer his/her pension to an account designated by the employee; however, the savings in his/her pension account is not clearly protected. Once the employee becomes indebted, his/her assets, including the pension, will be subject to seizure and compulsory execution. Many suicides and criminal cases have arisen in relation to bankruptcy cases where employees have lost their pensions.

Under this amendment passed by the Legislative Yuan, workers who qualify for labor pension may open an individual pension account in any financial institution. This individual pension account is solely for the use of saving employees’ labor pensions. The savings in the labor pension individual account are not subject to offset, seizure, pledge or compulsory execution procedures.

According to Ms. Cheng Ru-Fen, the legislator who proposed this amendment, all labor pension and labor insurance payments under both the new and old labor pension systems shall be immune from transfer, seizure, offset, or pledge. Precluding compulsory execution against labor pension savings is expected to assist in securing basic living and economic safety of workers after retirement.