Taiwan Sick Leave: Half Wages and 2026 Protection Against Adverse Action for Up to Ten Days

Since January 1, 2026, an employer cannot take adverse action for ordinary sick leave of no more than ten days in a year, subject to the exceptions in Article 9-1. The December 9, 2025 amendment revised Articles 7, 9, and Article 12 of the Regulations of Leave-Taking by Workers and added Article 9-1 (amendment history). On October 13, 2026, that text is in force.

Unless these Rules or another statute already govern the point, Article 9-1, paragraph 1, bars an adverse measure taken because the worker used ordinary sick leave. A proportional attendance-bonus cut has its own rule in Article 9, paragraph 2.

Where ordinary sick leave brings an adverse measure, the employer bears the burden of proving the measure is unrelated to the leave. That burden, in Article 9-1, paragraph 2, has no ten-day cap. Past ten days, paragraph 3 still weighs work ability, work attitude, and actual performance together. Days alone do not decide.

Half wages, and three ceilings

Ordinary sick leave within 30 days in one year carries half wages under Article 4, paragraph 3. Without a labor-insurance ordinary injury or sickness benefit for that period, the employer pays that half. When the benefit is lower, the employer pays the shortfall needed to reach half wages. Article 1 places the Regulations under Article 43 of the Labor Standards Act. They apply to employees covered by that Act.

Injury, illness, or a physiological condition that needs treatment or rest can be ordinary sick leave, inside three limits in Article 4, paragraph 1. Without a hospital stay, the total may not pass 30 days in one year. In hospital, the total may not pass one year within two years. Together, the two may not pass one year within two years.

Cancer diagnosed by a physician, including carcinoma in situ, places outpatient treatment in the hospitalized tally. Rest to protect a pregnancy, called 安胎, does the same when a physician has diagnosed the need for that rest. Both are Article 4, paragraph 2. Counting those days as hospitalized sick leave does not, by itself, satisfy the hospital-treatment requirement in Article 33 of the Labor Insurance Act. Leave Rules Article 4, paragraph 3, sets half wages only inside the year's 30 days.

Does an outpatient visit qualify for the insurance benefit?

Insurance starts on day four, in hospital

Hospital treatment is what Article 33 of the Labor Insurance Act requires. The insured person is in hospital for an ordinary injury or illness, cannot work and so cannot draw original wages, and is still under treatment. Payment starts on day four of that inability.

Half the average monthly insured salary, paid once every half month, is the Article 35 rate. Six months is the cap. Insurance periods before the injury or illness that total at least one year add another six months. The employer's top-up is measured against half wages under Article 4, paragraph 3.

An outpatient-only day does not meet Article 33. Inside the year's 30, it still draws the employer's half wage under Leave Rules Article 4, paragraph 3. Payroll withholding and social insurance are in Taiwan payroll for foreign employees.

What the employer may ask for

Before the leave, the worker must personally state the reason and the number of days, orally or in writing, under Article 10. In a sudden illness or an emergency, another person may handle the request. When the request is made, the employer may ask for relevant supporting documents. The article names no document.

Attendance bonus, from January 2026

Marriage leave, bereavement leave, occupational injury or sickness leave, and official leave may not be marked absent in a way that cuts the full attendance bonus. Article 9, paragraph 1, also protects ordinary sick leave for a miscarriage before three months of pregnancy when maternity leave was not taken, and personal leave under Article 7 to care for a family member personally. Another statute controls where it says otherwise. Maternity and parental pay are in maternity and parental leave in 2026.

Other ordinary sick leave uses Article 9, paragraph 2. The deduction follows the number of sick-leave days, in proportion. A more favorable agreement controls.

Family care by the hour

Up to 14 days a year, unpaid. Article 7, paragraph 1, is personal leave for a matter the worker must handle personally. Paragraph 2 allows that leave by the hour when the worker must personally care for a family member, unless the Labor Standards Act or another law provides otherwise. Article 9, paragraph 1, item 3, keeps this family-care personal leave off the attendance-bonus absence list.

A vaccination, a serious illness, or another major event opens family-care leave under Article 20 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act, if the worker must personally provide the care. Family-care leave counts toward personal leave, is limited to seven days a year, and is paid under the personal-leave rule.

After the ceiling

What happens to the contract once that year of unpaid leave ends?

Once the period in Article 4, paragraph 1, is over, personal leave or annual leave under Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act can cover the further absence. If the illness continues, Article 5 permits unpaid leave of absence for one year at most. Article 38 grants that annual leave for continued service with the same employer or business unit. Article 5 does not say what the employer may do after the year.

Article 13 of the Labor Standards Act bars termination during the Article 50 work-stop period and the Article 59 medical period. A natural disaster, an incident, or other force majeure that stops the business can be an exception, after a report and the competent authority's approval. Ordinary sick leave is unnamed.

Using up ordinary sick leave or the permitted unpaid-leave period does not, by itself, authorize dismissal. An employer relying on inability to perform the job must establish the ground in Labor Standards Act Article 11(5); the number of sick-leave days alone is insufficient.

Termination on that ground also requires compliance with Article 16 on notice or pay in lieu and the applicable severance provisions in Article 17 or Labor Pension Act Article 12, depending on the pension scheme and service period concerned.

Disability, injury, or illness from an occupational accident brings occupational injury or sickness leave under Article 6, for the treatment and recuperation period.

Menstrual leave

One day a month, where menstruation makes work difficult for a female employee. She may request the leave. Article 14 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act keeps up to three days a year out of sick leave and counts further days as sick leave. Pay is half either way.

Refusal is barred. Article 21 forbids refusing a request under the preceding seven articles, and menstrual leave is one of them. Treating the request as absence that hits the attendance bonus or the appraisal, or imposing another adverse measure, is forbidden too. Article 38 sets a fine of NT$20,000 to NT$300,000, publication of the name and the responsible person's name, and a deadline to correct. Each failure to correct is punished again.

Marriage leave is now 14 days

Marriage leave is 14 days at full wages under Article 2, amended on September 30, 2026 and effective on October 1, 2026 (Article 12, amendment history).

Paying less, and a complaint

An employer that pays below the minimum set under Article 43 may face a fine. Article 79, paragraph 1, item 3, reaches a breach of the minimum leave, or of wages outside personal leave, fixed under Article 43 by the central competent authority. The range is NT$20,000 to NT$1,000,000.

A worker who finds a violation of the Act or another labor statute may complain to the employer, the competent authority, or an inspection agency. Article 74, paragraph 1, names those routes. Dismissal, demotion, a pay cut, harm to rights under statute, contract, or custom, and any other adverse measure because of the complaint are forbidden by paragraph 2. Paragraph 3 makes that measure void. After the competent authority or an inspection agency receives the complaint, it investigates as necessary and, within 60 days of that receipt, notifies the worker in writing of the handling status. The complainant's identity stays confidential. Mediation, if the dispute goes there, is described in labor dispute mediation for a foreign employee.

This column states the rules in Taiwan. Consult a local professional on sick-leave days and pay in Korea, Japan, or the United States.

Payslips that do not match the day count can be taken up with Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw.

For ordinary sick leave other than the miscarriage leave protected by Article 9(1)(2), any attendance-bonus deduction must be proportional to the leave days under paragraph 2. A more favorable agreement prevails.

Official sources

Checked on October 13, 2026.

• Regulations of Leave-Taking by Workers (page amendment date September 30, 2026): Art. 1, Art. 2, Art. 3, Art. 4, Art. 5, Art. 6, Art. 7, Art. 8, Art. 9, Art. 9-1, Art. 10, Art. 12. History (Articles 7, 9, and 12 amended and Article 9-1 added on December 9, 2025, effective January 1, 2026; Articles 2 and 12 amended on September 30, 2026, effective October 1, 2026).
• Labor Standards Act (page amendment date July 31, 2024): Art. 11, Art. 13, Art. 16, Art. 17, Art. 38, Art. 43, Art. 74, Art. 79.
• Labor Insurance Act (page amendment date January 21, 2026): Art. 33, Art. 35.
• Gender Equality in Employment Act (amended August 16, 2023): Art. 14, Art. 20, Art. 21, Art. 38.
• Labor Pension Act: Art. 12.
• Ministry of Labor: prolonged illness and dismissal.