Article 1
In order to provide the members, employees, suppliers and job applicants with a workplace and service environment free of sexual harassment, and take appropriate preventive, corrective, disciplinary and handling measures to protect the rights, interests and privacy of the party concerned, Power Wind Health Industry Inc. and its branches (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) hereby formulate these Measures in accordance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment, the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, the Regulations of Sexual Harassment Prevention, the Enforcement Rules of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, and the Regulations for Establishing Measures of Prevention, Correction, Complaint and Punishment of Sexual Harassment at Workplace promulgated by the Ministry of Labor.
Article 2
Unless otherwise stipulated by the laws and regulations, the company’s handling of sexual harassment and complaints shall be in accordance with the articles of these Measures.
Article 3 The term “sexual harassment” shown in these Measures include:
1. In accordance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment, sexual harassment refers to one of the following situations:
- In the course of an employee executing his or her duties, any of the company’s supervisors at any levels shall not make a sexual request, use verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature or with an intent of gender discrimination, or cause any other employees a hostile, intimidating or offensive working environment leading to infringe on or interfere with their personal dignity and physical liberty, or affect their job performance.
- A supervisor explicitly or implicitly makes a sexual request toward his/her subordinate or a job applicant, uses verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature or with an intent of gender discrimination as an exchange for the establishment, continuance or modification of a labor contract, or as a condition for achieving his/her placement, assignment, compensation, evaluation, promotion, demotion, reward and punishment.
2. The so-called sexual harassment in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act not only refers to sexual assault crimes, but also refers to the sex- or gender-related behaviors violating another person’s wishes, and having one of the following circumstances:
- If a person’s obedience to or rejection of another person’s sexual advances becomes a condition of obtaining, losing or reducing their rights and interests in work, education, training, services, plans or activities.
- If texts, pictures, voices, images or other objects are used, or if languages and behaviors of discrimination and insults or other methods are adopted to inundate or intimidate others’ dignity of character, or if another person feels scared, feels disliked with hostility or feels offended, or if another person’s work, education, training, services, plans, activities or normal habits are improperly influenced.
3. What is applicable to the so-called sexual harassment incidents in the Act of Gender Equality in Employment as specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 3 herein is inapplicable to the so-called sexual harassment incidents in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act as specified in Paragraph 2 of the same article.
4. The sexual assault and sexual harassment behaviors applicable to the Gender Equity Education Act are inapplicable to those in these Measures.
5. If the perpetrator of sexual harassment is not an employee of the company, or if the complainant is a supplier, the company should still handle the incident in accordance with the relevant provisions of these Measures, and provide the victim with the protection that he/she should have.
6. For other sexual harassment incidents that occurred in the company’s premises (referring to the place provided by the employer to let the employees perform contracts by providing labor services or to allow job applicants to come to apply for jobs, and for those employees working in a workplace that is not under the control and management of the employer, the employer should identify the types of sexual harassment risks in the workplace, provide necessary protective measures, and inform the employees of the details in advance), the victim may file a complaint with the company.
Article 4
The company should be responsible for asking the supervisors of various departments to strengthen the promotion of sexual harassment prevention and correction measures as well as complaint channels to their employees through proper use of different opportunities and ways of transmitting messages, such as meetings, broadcasts, emails or internal documents. In the annual education and training or lecture courses, these supervisors should reasonably plan courses relating to gender equality and sexual harassment prevention, and employees are obliged to take such courses. Those who refuse to take them without reason shall be regarded as being absent from work.
Article 5
The company shall establish a Gender Equality Committee to handle complaints in a confidential manner, and ensure the privacy of both parties concerned.
Article 6
In principle, complaints against sexual harassment should be made in written form with signature. If a complaint is filed verbally, the person or department accepting the complaint should make a record of the verbal complaint. After the complaint record is read aloud to the complainant, or the complainant is made to read it, the complainant shall sign or affix his/her seal on it after confirming that its content is correct. The written document aforesaid should be signed by the complainant or affixed with his/her seal, and must be clearly specified with the following items:
- The complainant’s name, service department and title, domicile, contact number and date of complaint.
- If there is a legal representative or representative, a power of attorney should be attached, and specified with his/her name, domicile and contact number.
- Facts and content of the complaint:
If a complaint is made in a form other than written form, the Gender Equality Committee shall designate an investigator to record on the interview record the personal data of the complainant as well as the facts and content of the complaint when interviewing and recording. After confirming that the content of the interview record is correct, the complainant shall sign or affix his/her seal on it.
In case of a sexual harassment complaint to which the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act is applicable, if the perpetrator is the head of the company, the complaint should be submitted to the county or city government, and an investigation should be conducted immediately after acceptance of the complaint.
In case of a sexual harassment complaint to which the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act is applicable, the complaint should be filed within one year from the date of occurrence of the fact.
In case of a sexual harassment complaint to which the Act of Gender Equality in Employment is applicable, if the employer is the perpetrator of the sexual harassment, the employee or job applicant not only shall file a complaint through the company’s internal channels, but also shall submit the complaint to the competent authority of the land where labor service is provided, complaining the employer’s involvement in violation of the provisions of Article 13 of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment.
Article 7
For the complaints of sexual harassment incidents, the company shall establish dedicated telephone number, fax number, dedicated mailbox or electronic mailbox, and publicly display the relevant information of complaint channels in conspicuous places in the workplace.
Article 8
When a complainant files a sexual harassment complaint with the company, he/she may withdraw the complaint in writing before the notification of resolution sent by the Gender Equality Committee arrives at the addressee. Once the complaint is withdrawn, it shall not be filed again for the same reason.
Article 9
In order to handle the complaints of sexual harassment incidents specified in Article 6 herein, in addition to handling them in a non-public manner, the company shall also establish a Gender Equality Committee to make resolutions for the complaints. The Committee aforesaid shall have five to nine members (an odd number is more appropriate), with the proportion of female representatives being no less than 1/2, and the proportion of male representatives being more than 1/3. Besides, the “Talent Pool for Professional Sexual Harassment Investigation” (website: https://expert.mohw.gov.tw/) established by the Ministry of Health and Welfare should be referred to as needed, and experts and scholars can be hired as the committee members. In addition to the person-in-charge of the Personnel Department being an ex-officio member, all other committee members shall be designated, elected or appointed for the complaint case by the General Manager from the existing employees of the company, and shall all be unpaid committee members.
The General Manager of the Committee indicated in Paragraph 1 of Article 9 herein may designate one of the committee members as the Minister as well as the Chairperson of meetings. If the Chairperson is unable to preside over a meeting for some reason, another member shall be appointed to act as the Chairperson on his/her behalf.
Article 10 Recusal principle
Regarding those who participate in the handling, investigation and decision-making of sexual harassment complaints, if any of them is the party concerned or his/her spouse, ex-spouse, relative with a fourth-degree kinship relationship, in-law or parent with a third-degree kinship relationship, or family member, he/she should voluntarily withdraw from such participation aforesaid. If the person aforesaid should withdraw from the incident but does not do that voluntarily, or if there are other concrete facts relating to the same complaint incident, despite having none of the relationships aforesaid, it is sufficient for us to believe that there exists a risk of bias if this person performs his/her duties. In this case, the party concerned may cite the reasons and facts in writing, and submit an application for recusal of this person to the Gender Equality Committee.
Article 11
Those who participate in the handling, investigation and decision-making of a sexual harassment incident should keep confidential the content of the complaint incident that they are aware of. Should there be violators, the Minister of the Committee should terminate their participation, and the company may, depending on the circumstances, punish them and hold them accountable in accordance with the relevant regulations, and terminate their appointment and employment.
Article 12
The Gender Equality Committee should only hold a meeting with more than half of the members present, and a resolution shall only be made with the consent of more than half of the members present. And the Chairperson may determine whether a resolution can be made or not with the consent of the exact number of half of the members present. The Gender Equality Committee should make a resolution with reasons, and may give suggestions for any punishment or other handling ways. The complainant, the respondent and the company should be notified of the resolution aforesaid in writing.
Article 13 The handling procedure of the Gender Equality Committee is as follows:
- Upon receipt of a sexual harassment complaint, the company should send it to the ex officio member of the Committee within seven working days from the next day of such receipt, to confirm whether it shall be accepted. If the complaint is not accepted, the complainant should be notified with reasons, and this situation should be reported to the Gender Equality Committee for future reference. If the complainant refuses to accept the reasons aforesaid, he/she may apply for acceptance of the complaint again in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 herein.
- The company shall establish an ad hoc team to investigate the complaint that is confirmed to be accepted. In the investigation process, the privacy and other personal and legal interests of both parties concerned should be protected. The investigation results should be made as a written report for submission to the Gender Equality Committee.
- When the Gender Equality Committee holds a meeting in accordance with Article 9 herein, the party concerned and the relevant parties should be notified to attend the meeting, and persons with relevant knowledge and experience shall be invited to give assistance.
- Based on the results of the meeting, the Gender Equality Committee should make a written resolution with reasons.
Article 14 If a complaint incident falls under any of the following circumstances, the Gender Equality Committee may not accept the complaint:
- The way and procedure of the complaint do not follow the procedure stipulated in Article 6 herein.
- The complaint of the same incident has a resolution confirmed by the Gender Equality Committee, or has been filed again after being withdrawn.
- The complaint filed is about an incident that does not fall within the scope of sexual harassment.
- The complainant is not the victim of the sexual harassment incident or his/her legal representative.
- The complaint is filed after the deadline for filing a complaint.
If a sexual harassment complaint case is applicable to the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, but is rejected by the Sexual Equality Committee after reviewing it, the party concerned as well as the County or City Government should be notified in writing within 20 days from the date the complaint or transfer arrives at the addressee. For a sexual harassment complaint case that is applicable to the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, but is not a sexual harassment complaint to be accepted by the Sexual Equality Committee, the written complaint and the related materials should be transferred to the local competent authority for handling within seven days.
Article 15
When investigating sexual harassment incidents, the Committee should follow the investigation principles below:
- The investigation of sexual harassment incidents must be conducted in a non-public manner, and the privacy as well as the personal and legal interests of the party concerned should be protected.
- The investigation of sexual harassment incidents should uphold the principles of objectivity, impartiality and professionalism, and the party concerned should be given opportunities to fully express his/her opinions, give replies and defend himself/herself.
- If the statement of the victim is clear and there is no need for questioning, repeated questioning should be avoided.
- The party concerned and the relevant parties shall be notified to be present and explain in the investigation of sexual harassment incidents. Persons with relevant knowledge and experience shall be invited to give assistance.
- When the party concerned or witness of a sexual harassment incident is given unequal rights, confrontation with him/her should be avoided.
- Due to the necessity of the investigation, the investigators may, within the scope of not violating the confidentiality obligation, additionally make written materials for the party concerned to read or give him/her the summary.
- All those personnel handling sexual harassment incidents should keep confidential the name of the party concerned or other information sufficient for identifying his/her identity, unless it is necessary for the investigation or is based on public safety considerations. In case of leaking the information aforesaid, the personnel should be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code and other relevant regulations.
- When proceeding with the complaint, investigation, detection or examination of a sexual harassment incident, the personnel who file a lawsuit, testify and provide assistance for the complaint, lawsuit and accusation, or other personnel involved in these conducts need to be given no inappropriate differential treatment.
Article 17
If the sexual harassment behavior is found to be true after investigation, the company may, depending on the severity of the case, punish or deal with the respondent in accordance with the relevant regulations, such as the Work Rules. If criminal liabilities are involved, the company should assist the complainant to file a complaint. If the sexual harassment behavior is proven to be a false accusation, the company may, depending on the severity of the case, punish or deal with the complainant in accordance with the relevant regulations, such as the Work Rules.
Article 18
The company shall follow up, assess and oversee the sexual harassment behaviors so as to ensure the effective implementation of the punishment or handling measures, and avoid the occurrence of similar incidents or retaliation. If the party concerned has counseling or medical needs, the company shall assist in referring him/her to professional counseling or medical institutions upon receipt of application.
Article 19
If a behavior violating the provisions of Article 3 herein is found to be true after investigation, in addition to the required punishment or handling in accordance with relevant regulations, the violator should also bear the civil liability for compensation. If the company has already paid the compensation, the company shall have the right to claim compensation from the violator.
Article 20
These measures shall be implemented after being approved and promulgated by the General Manager, and the same shall apply when they are amended.
