The current level of the occupational accident insurance fund, at NT$35.1 billion (US$1.15 billion), is sufficient to ensure its healthy operation, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said on Tuesday.
From May 1 last year, when the Labor Occupational Accident Insurance and Protection Act (勞工職業災害保險及保護法) took effect, to March 1, the insurance fund has collected NT$8.65 billion in premiums and issued NT$6.6 billion in compensation, the ministry said.
As of February, about 787,000 employers had provided 11.03 million workers with the insurance, compared with about 594,000 employers who provide labor insurance to 10.38 million workers.
Photo: CNA
All employers must provide occupational accident insurance to workers, including employers of live-in caregivers and those who run businesses with fewer than five employees, who are not legally required to offer labor insurance.
As of February, about 1,200 employers had been fined for failing to provide workers with insurance, the ministry said.
Under the act, employers who fail to insure workers against occupational accidents face a fine of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000, and can be subjected to repeated fines until they provide insurance.
Forty of the about 1,200 infractions involved beneficiaries who sought compensation after an employee sustained or succumbed to work-related injuries, the ministry said.
None of those cases involved migrant live-in caregivers, who are automatically insured against occupational accidents upon arrival, it said.
The ministry said that without further research, it was unable to provide a figure as to how many of those infractions involved migrant workers engaged in construction or factory work, or the amount of compensation paid in the event of a fatality.
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