On November 9, 2026, the Ministry of Labor amended and promulgated the “Common Principles for Imposing Administrative Fines for Violations of the Labor Standards Act and the Minimum Wage Act” (hereinafter the “Common Principles”), adding the Minimum Wage Act and introducing per-violation cumulative fine amounts and a mechanism for public disclosure of information on websites. The amended Common Principles will formally take effect on January 1, 2027. 

The Ministry of Labor explained that the minimum wage is necessary for workers to maintain their livelihood, and that wages paid by employers to workers, whether calculated on a monthly, daily, or hourly basis, may not be lower than the statutory minimum wage. To provide local governments nationwide with consistent penalty standards, the amendment brings violations of the Minimum Wage Act under the Common Principles. In addition, for specified entities such as companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange or the Taipei Exchange, companies with paid-in capital exceeding NT$100 million, or medical centers, NT$50,000 will be the minimum starting amount of the administrative fine if they violate important provisions such as those on the minimum wage or working hours. 

The Ministry of Labor further added that, having reviewed this year the implementation of the Minimum Wage Act since it took effect in 2024, and in light of reports from labor groups that local governments calculated cumulative fines inconsistently for business entities that repeatedly violated the same provision, it held discussions with local governments and then added the following to the Common Principles: the period used by competent authorities in considering the number of repeated violations of the same provision by a business entity is uniformly three years; that is, “the number of repeated violations of the same provision within three years” is to be included in the per-violation cumulative fine amount. The Ministry of Labor also specifically reminded that violations of the basic wage provisions of the Labor Standards Act and of the Minimum Wage Act within three years are deemed violations of the same provision. At the same time, the Ministry of Labor also requires local governments to publish the penalty determination standards they have established (including per-violation cumulative fine amounts) on their official websites, and the Ministry of Labor’s website will compile links for each county and city, so as to achieve administrative transparency and respect local discretion. 

Finally, the Ministry of Labor emphasized that the amended Common Principles are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, and that the Ministry and local governments will actively promote them before implementation and jointly assist business entities in improving their compliance capabilities.