If the employee has provided credible evidence for the facts asserted, and the employer has not argued against the evidence, then the employee’s request under the employment contract is justified (Taiwan)

Angela Wu

The Taipei District Court rendered the 108-Lao-Jian-10 Decision of March 31, 2020 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that if the employee has provided credible evidence of the facts asserted, and the employer has not argued against the evidence, then the employee’s request under the employment contract is justified.

According to the facts underlying this Decision, the Plaintiff asserted that he was an engineer employed by the Defendant under the agreement that the monthly wage was NT$40,000.  His wages for January through March 2019 (including overtime pay) were NT$48,667, NT$40,000 and NT$42,000, respectively.  Since the Defendant has not paid wages from April 2019, the Plaintiff terminated the employment contract on June 30, 2019 in accordance with Article 14, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 5 of the Labor Standards Law and requested the Defendant to pay wages totaling NT$120,000 from April through June of 2019 in accordance with the employment contract between the two parties.  In addition, the Defendant was requested to pay severance pay based on the average wage of NT$41,778 and the years in service from August 14, 2017 through June 30, 2019 in accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Pension Statute.  Therefore, the Plaintiff filed a lawsuit to request the Defendant to pay wages and severance pay to the Plaintiff.

According to the Decision, the facts asserted by the Plaintiff are evidenced by the wage statements from January through June of 2019 as produced by the Plaintiff.  The Defendant was also lawfully notified of the above facts during a certain period of time but was absent and failed to present its arguments on the day of the oral argument hearing and did not submit a brief to defend its case.   The court believed in the verity of the Plaintiff’s assertions in light of the evidentiary materials produced by the Plaintiff.  Therefore, the Plaintiff’s request that the Defendant pay a total of NT$120,000 for his wages from April through June of 2019 pursuant to the employment contract as well as a severance pay in accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Pension Statute based on the Plaintiff’s average wage of NT$41,778 and years in service from August 14, 2017 through June 30, 2019 is well-grounded and should be granted.