Taiwan: Hiring Disabled Employees

In a bid to increase the diversity of workforces, and increase access to employment for those with disabilities, Taiwan has a quota for the number of disabled employees. We take a look at how this works in practice.

People With Disabilities Rights Protection Act

The People With Disabilities Rights Protection Act ("PWDRPA") requires any employer than employs more than 67 employees to proactively seek to employ those with disabilities. The PWDRPA requires that employees with disabilities make up "no less than 1% of the total employee population, with a minimum of at least 1 person

Defining Disabilities

In order to comply with the PWDRPA, employer must hire employees "with disabilities". To avoid lengthy dispute about who satisfies the definition and what amounts to a disability, the obligation extends to employees who have been issued with a disability identification card.

Non Compliance

Where an employer is unable to comply with the quota for hiring employees with disabilities, they are required to periodically pay a subsidy to the Disabled Employment Fund.

The subsidy is calculated based on the number of employees that the employer should have employed to meet the quota, multiplied by the monthly statutory basic wage.

Key Takeaways

Employers should routinely audit whether they are reaching the 1% quota and, if not, consider how their recruitment practices might be updated to attract employees with disabilities. At the same time, employers should ensure that they are making the relevant subsidy payments.