Parents who are both insured under employment insurance and who raise at least two children under the age of three may concurrently receive parental leave allowances if they concurrently apply for unpaid parental leave in accordance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (Taiwan)

2018.8.8
Tiffany Hsiao

The Ministry of Labor issued the Lao-Dong-Bao-One-1070140346 Circular of August 8, 2018 (hereinafter, the “Circular”) to communicate that parents who are both insured under employment insurance and who raise at least two children under the age of three may concurrently receive parental leave allowances if they concurrently apply for unpaid parental leave in accordance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment.  The Lao-Bao-One-0990002973 Circular of May 17, 2010 from the Council of Labor Affairs before its restructuring as the Ministry of Labor became void immediately.

Under Article 11, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 4 of the Employment Insurance Act(hereinafter, the “Act”), the precondition for parental leave allowances is that the combined insurance years of the insured should be at least one year, and unpaid parental leave before a child is three years old shall be taken in accordance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment.  In addition, Article 19-2, Paragraph 3 of the Act provides that if the parents are both insured, they shall separately claim parental leave allowances and shall not do so concurrently.

However, in view of the practical circumstances of multiple births when the parents will have to take care of at least two children under the age of three at the same time, it is not possible to require that only one of the parents stay home to take care of the children.  Therefore, as pointed out in this Circular, to address the needs of individuals taking unpaid parental leave to take care of their children and to observe the principle of no double coverage under social insurance, parents who are both insured under employment insurance, who raise at least two children under the age of three (such as twins or multiple birth children), who concurrently apply for unpaid parental leave concurrently pursuant to applicable requirements, and who meet the requirements for parental leave allowances may concurrently apply for parental leave allowances for different children and continue to participate in their existing social insurance.  As for parents who raise one child under the age of three, the payment of parental leave allowances shall still be governed by Article 19-2, Paragraph 3 of the Law.