Taiwan hospital unions accuse administration of denying paid leave for mandatory medical training

Unions representing medical staff at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) are protesting the hospital's alleged refusal to grant paid leave for mandatory, job-related training. The NTUH Labor Union and NTUH Cancer Center Labor Union held a press conference accusing the hospital administration of ignoring directives from the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

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the hospital administration, still refuse to grant paid leave.

These ministries have previously clarified that time spent by medical personnel on training directly related to their duties should be considered work hours or be granted as paid leave. However, the unions claim that NTUH and its affiliated branches continue to deny this, forcing employees to use their personal time off or after-work hours to complete required educational courses. This practice, they argue, exacerbates workplace fatigue.

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this is not personal interest or private study, but a legal obligation.

The unions are pressing for three key demands: first, that all mandatory continuing education courses required for license renewal, as well as in-house mandatory training, be recognized as work hours or eligible for paid leave, regardless of format. Second, they urge the Ministry of Health and Welfare to establish support mechanisms to help medical institutions manage the associated costs of staff scheduling and training. Third, they call on the Ministry of Labor to officially classify such training as "job-related in-service training" and include it in routine labor inspections to prevent further exploitation of frontline medical staff.

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the paid leave guarantee mentioned in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's official document has become empty talk at the hospital level.