Farmer hires worker without labor insurance, health insurance, or employment insurance, and is sued for 300,000! Tsai Pei-hui: This is not an isolated case; the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labor should negotiate supporting measures

Agriculture faces a severe labor shortage. Some farmers follow the tradition of "mutual labor exchange" by asking relatives and friends to help, or they hire workers from outside. However, most farmers may not know that these common rural practices of hiring day laborers paid by the day all fall under the jurisdiction of the Labor Standards Act. For example, hiring five or more people at once to help with harvesting requires mandatory labor insurance enrollment. Even if only one person is hired to harvest for three days, employment insurance enrollment is required. And if the hiring period reaches a certain number of days, even a single worker requires labor and health insurance enrollment. But farmers usually do not realize they are "employers," and often unknowingly edge into violating the law.

A case recently occurred in which farmer Chang Hung-tien hired a helper, Mr. Hsiao, for short-term orchard management. However, due to physical discomfort, Chang underwent surgery, and the surgery caused an infection that kept him hospitalized for a year. During that time, Hsiao was asked to care for the orchard, lasting about a year and a half in total. Unexpectedly, half a year after the employment ended, Hsiao filed a civil claim against him, citing Chang's failure to enroll him in labor insurance, health insurance, and employment insurance, and demanding compensation for "severance pay and advance notice wages," "labor pension contributions," "unemployment benefits," and "occupational accident compensation," totaling 300,000 yuan.

Chang Hung-tien was devastated and petitioned the Ministry of Labor and the Council of Agriculture for an explanation. But the Ministry of Labor held that agriculture falls under the Labor Standards Act, saying, "Just the employer's failure to create a worker roster and failure to keep wage records is enough to impose a fine." The Council of Agriculture held that the competent authority for the Labor Standards Act is the Ministry of Labor, and the Council of Agriculture can only remind farmers to avoid risks. Former legislator Tsai Pei-hui, who has long been involved in rural movements, said that the situation Chang Hung-tien faces is not an isolated case and has broad impact, and that the Ministry of Labor and the Council of Agriculture should jointly negotiate to seek long-term supporting measures that can resolve the problem.

"Helping farmers for daily pay" turns into a "labor dispute," and the farmer is sued for 300,000

Chang Hung-tien is now seventy years old. In his youth he went to Kaohsiung to work as a small construction subcontractor. Before retiring, he began taking courses at agricultural research and extension stations everywhere, learning organic agriculture and natural farming. At age 60, he "gave up construction for farming," first growing pesticide-free sweet potatoes and also successfully growing wheat. Three years ago, he took the two-and-a-half-fen farmland he inherited in Zhongpu, Chiayi, and planned it as a passion fruit orchard.

In the spring of 2018, Chang Hung-tien was scheduled to undergo knee replacement surgery, and estimated that surgery plus recovery would take about several months. In April, through the Chiayi employment service station, he was matched with manpower and found Mr. Hsiao, who was registered as job-seeking, and the two agreed that Hsiao would manage the orchard on his behalf for daily pay. Unexpectedly, after surgery he developed osteomyelitis from an infection, beginning a long series of treatment and recovery. He was hospitalized for more than a year, and after discharge still needed rehabilitation and to recuperate. During this period, he continued to employ Hsiao to care for the orchard.

But because his recovery did not go as expected, the doctor told Chang Hung-tien that his physical condition no longer allowed him to engage in farming. In June 2019, he proposed to Hsiao that they end the cooperation. Unexpectedly, at the end of the year, Hsiao filed a civil claim against him, citing failure to enroll him in labor insurance, health insurance, and employment insurance, and demanding compensation for "severance pay and advance notice wages," "labor pension contributions," "unemployment benefits," and "occupational accident compensation," totaling 300,000 yuan.

"Farming brings meager income, and when short-handed, finding help is like holding an unpredictable time bomb?"

Chang Hung-tien was very surprised. In his impression, farmers hiring workers meant "hire someone to help today, be hired to work tomorrow," paid by the day, and when the work was done both sides said thank you and that was the end of it. How could such a compensation lawsuit arise? On the one hand he asked around everywhere, and on the other he petitioned through legislator Wu Kun-yu to the Ministry of Labor and the Council of Agriculture for an explanation.

On December 31 last year (2019), legislator Wu Kun-yu, regarding Chang Hung-tien's petition, invited the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labor to hold a coordination meeting. When Chang Hung-tien heard a Ministry of Labor official mention that "once the Labor Standards Act applies, just the employer's failure to create a worker roster and failure to keep wage records is enough to impose a fine," he could hardly believe it and burst into tears on the spot. He exclaimed at the plight of farmers: "Farming brings meager agricultural income, finding help when short-handed is already troublesome enough, and once you find someone you still have to hold an unpredictable time bomb?"

Council of Agriculture: Amending the Labor Standards Act is highly difficult; recommends that employers hire workers from among acquaintances and relatives to avoid disputes

Chiu Ting-hsiang, the Council of Agriculture case officer who attended the coordination meeting, explained: "The Council of Agriculture is not the competent authority for the Labor Standards Act, nor can it contravene the Labor Standards Act. Chang Hung-tien argues that this case should be exempt from the application of the Labor Standards Act, but that is not something the Council of Agriculture can decide."

Chiu added, "If there are situations where the Labor Standards Act does not apply (for example, domestic caregivers are excluded from its scope), the Ministry of Labor will explain through an interpretive letter, but in this case the Ministry of Labor recommends that the employer negotiate with the worker, and if they cannot settle, only the court can decide." In other words, the Ministry of Labor believes this case cannot be excluded from an employment relationship.

Tsai Pei-chun, executive secretary of the Agricultural Manpower Office of the Council of Agriculture's Counseling Division, said: "Amending the current Labor Standards Act is highly difficult. It is recommended that farmers hiring workers try as much as possible to find familiar relatives and friends to avoid disputes; or when hiring, both sides must agree to a contract-for-services relationship, avoiding any direction/subordination relationship, so as to avoid later labor disputes." For example, in the contract farming system, when a harvester comes to finish harvesting, the farmer only receives the result but does not intervene in the process, and the two sides have no direction/subordination relationship, so it counts as contract for services.

Farmers hiring workers step into a "gray zone of lawbreaking"

She admitted that most farmers hire workers on a small scale. Although hiring fewer than five people is exempt from mandatory labor insurance enrollment, regardless of the number of workdays, under labor laws there are still obligations to contribute to labor pensions and mandatory employment insurance, as well as the hired worker's occupational accident risks and other gray zones of lawbreaking.

Facing the problem of labor shortage and the risk of labor disputes from hiring manpower on their own, Tsai Pei-chun said the Council of Agriculture has already in various places