New workplace bullying rules to take effect July 1: MOL

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) New rules defining workplace bullying and requiring employers in Taiwan to establish prevention and complaint-handling mechanisms will take effect July 1, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Tuesday.

"Workplace bullying cases have long been affected by problems such as unclear definitions and the lack of objective procedures for investigation and handling," Lin Yu-tang (林毓堂), director-general of MOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said at a press conference in Taipei.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act was therefore amended, and related regulations were introduced, "to clarify the criteria for identifying workplace bullying and the prevention and response measures employers should take," Lin said.

Workplace bullying drew widespread public attention in late 2024 after a civil servant at MOL's Workforce Development Agency died by suicide, with an investigation later concluding that he had been bullied and that his death was work-related.

The new provisions define workplace bullying as repeated "inappropriate words or behaviors" by personnel of the same business entity who abuse "their positions or powers" and act "beyond the necessary and reasonable business scope," causing a worker physical or mental harm.

Lin said the new framework also establishes procedures for complaints, coordination, investigations and appeals, and allows local labor authorities to handle complaints when the alleged perpetrator is the company's top responsible person.

The amended Act requires employers to take "adequate punishment or relevant discipline" against perpetrators if workplace bullying is substantiated, but does not specify what those measures should be.

OSHA official Peng Feng-mei (彭鳳美) said the new rules do not prescribe fixed disciplinary measures, leaving employers to handle such cases based on their internal rules, including work rules filed with local labor authorities.

She said serious cases could lead to dismissal, though she did not specify what types of cases would meet that threshold.

"The focus is not so much on what form disciplinary action should take, but on correcting a company's overall management culture," Peng added.

MOL has also released a workplace bullying prevention guidance manual, FAQs and educational materials, all of which are currently available only in Chinese.

Asked whether the materials would be made available in other languages for foreign workers in Taiwan, including more than 800,000 workers from four Southeast Asian countries, Peng said OSHA would study the feasibility of providing multilingual versions.