In order to protect the rights and interest of workers and raise work condition standards, the Ministry of Labor has significantly increased its inspection work in recent years. The Ministry conducted 32,810 labor condition inspections in the first half of this year (2016), up from 17,018 inspections during the same period from a year before (2015) for an increase of 107%; the number of violations cited increased from 4,895 to 5,577 incidents. The Ministry has made improvements on the number and quality of inspections, paying close attention to part-time laborers, migrant workers, female employees, and drivers from the transportation industry. Three hundred sixty targeted examinations were added, and the "1955" hotline was established for quick and convenient reporting of violations.
The Ministry of Labor emphasizes that labor laws and regulations protect an employee's most basic rights; therefore, it will not allow these rights to be violated by any business unit for any reason or by any means. If an employer fails to meet its statutory obligations regarding wages, overtime pay, severance pay, or leaves of absence, it will still be responsible for fulfilling all such obligations even after being penalized by administrative sanctions. The Ministry calls on all employers to follow labor laws and regulations.
The Ministry of Labor also expressed that they actively collaborate with county and municipal governments via communication platforms on a monthly basis to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of labor inspections. If an employee discovers any business that has violated the law, he or she may appeal to the competent labor authority or report the violation by calling the 1955 hotline. Competent authorities will promptly dispatch personnel to investigate and deal with the incident in accordance with the law in order to deter unscrupulous employers from exploiting their employees.