萬國法律事務所

A key concept in Taiwanese administrative law is the principle of uniformity in administrative penalties. In general, similarly situated entities should be subject to the same fines for violations of administrative law involving similar circumstances.
 
Taiwan's Ministry of Labor (勞動部, hereinafter “MOL”) implements the principle of uniformity in a set of rules called the “General Principles for Imposing Fines Arising from Violations of the Labor Standards Act.” (違反勞動基準法裁處罰鍰共通性原則, hereinafter “General Principles”).
 
 
On May 28, 2025, the Taiwan Ministry of Labor amended its General Principles. In particular, Section 4 of the General Principles was modified to imposed enhanced penalties on medical centers (醫學中心) and regional hospitals (區域醫院) These amendments will take effect on August 1, 2025.
 
The purpose of the General Principles Common Principles is to ensure that local labor administrative authorities imposing penalties consistently in accordance with the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).  Medical centers and regional hospitals who violate Article 24, Article 32, Article 34, Article 36, or Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act will now be fined between NT$50,000 to NT$1,000,000 depending on their financial resources and the number of violations of the same article within the last three years. The amended Section 4 also permits increasing the administrative fine to one-half of the maximum statutory administrative fine.
 
The Ministry has explained that large medical institutions of a certain size should be subject to higher standards for protecting workers' rights and interests. It considers that these institutions should be regulated using the same standards that apply to listed or over-the-counter businesses.  It expects that the amended Genera Principles will encourage these institutions to fulfill their legal obligations.