TAIPEI (Taiwan News)— The Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee of Taiwan’s legislature on Thursday (April 13) has introduced a draft Employment Service Act amendment bill to shorten employers’ waiting time to hire new migrant workers if they are unaccounted for or die.

According to Article 58 of the Employment Service Act, if an industrial migrant worker is unaccounted for or dies, the employer has to wait six months before they can apply for a new one. If it is a homecare worker who is unaccounted for, or has died, the employer has to wait three months before they are legally allowed to apply for a replacement.

The amendment bill seeks to shorten waiting times to replace industrial and homecare migrant workers who are unaccounted for or die from six months to three months, and from three months to one month, respectively, CNA reported.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said that if the employer and the home caregiver agree to end their employment contract, they should not have to abide by the principle of "one in, one out," as such a requirement will force many families to find illegal care workers instead.

Therefore, he suggested the waiting period for a home caregiver replacement be shortened to one month, which was agreed, per CNA.