On December 19, 2025, the President promulgated amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This amendment adds a definition of workplace bullying and related prevention and control measures, which has a significant impact on workplace safety and labor–management relations. We summarize below:
1.It is added that the employers shall adopt occupational safety and health measures to prevent workers, in the course of performing their duties, from suffering unlawful physical or mental infringement due to the conduct of others (such as customers or consumers), and shall establish complaint, investigation, and handling procedures. (Amended Article 6)
2.Where an enterprise entrusts construction works of a certain scale or above to others for planning, design, and construction, it shall adopt occupational safety and health measures such as conducting analyses of potential hazard, preparing safety and health drawings, specifications, and budgets, and shall require the contractor to take preventive measures. (Amended Article 15-1)
3.Business entities employing 50 or more laborers shall appoint occupational health service personnel or contract professional occupational health service institutions. The scope of duties of occupational health service personnel is newly expanded to include the prevention of work-related diseases. (Amended Article 22)
4.A chapter on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying is added:
(1) Workplace bullying is defined as circumstances where a worker, while performing duties at the workplace, suffers harm to physical or mental health due to personnel of the enterprise taking leveraging their duties, authority, or other relationships, and continuously engaging in offensive, threatening, exclusionary, isolating, insulting, or other inappropriate words or conduct that exceed the necessary and reasonable scope of business operations. However, where the circumstances are serious, continuity is not required. (Amended Paragraph 1, Article 22-1)
(2) The employers shall take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of workplace bullying and, in accordance with the scale of the enterprise, establish complaint channels or workplace bullying prevention measures, as well as complaint and disciplinary rules, which shall be publicly disclosed. (Amended Paragraph 2, Article 22-1)
(3) The employer shall take appropriate measures when they become aware that a worker has been subjected to workplace bullying, strengthen the investigation and handling of internal workplace bullying complaints, specify matters concerning conflict of interest avoidance to be observed by investigators, and provide mechanisms for assistance and protection measures for complainants; employers are also required to register complaint cases and the handling results on the website designated by the central competent authority.
(4) In principle, complaints of workplace bullying shall be handled by the employer; however, where the respondent is the highest-ranking person, the complaint may be submitted directly to the local competent authority. The procedure and time limit for workers to submit complaints to the local competent authority are also stipulated. (Amended Article 22-3)
5.It is added that when an enterprise entrusts its business to a contractor, it shall conduct a risk assessment of the entrusted business in advance and inform the contractor. In addition, when an enterprise rents or lends its workplace or equipment to others, it shall bear the responsibility to inform them in advance of relevant hazard factors and precautions. (Amended Article 26)
6.The scope for determining joint operations between enterprises and contractors is expanded. It is added that when a contractor or subcontractor entrusts its contracted portion to another subcontractor, it shall also implement disaster prevention measures such as coordination of work, inspections, and training, and shall cooperate with the contracting management of the original enterprise. (Amended Article 27)
7.It is added that when an enterprise entrusts a project to two or more contractors, one of the contractorss shall be designated to assume responsibility for the overall integration of occupational safety and health management of the project. (Amended Article 27-1)
8.It is added that when a worker files a complaint against an enterprise under this Act, the employer shall not take adverse actions against the complainant or workers assisting in the complaint; if such workers are subjected to adverse actions, the employer shall bear the burden of proof that the adverse actions are unrelated to the complaint. (Amended Article 39)
9.The maximum penalties of imprisonment and fines are increased for cases involving serious violations. (Amended Articles 40 and 41)
10.It is added that penalties are imposed for violations of workplace bullying prevention regulations, including cases where the highest-ranking person is found to have engaged in workplace bullying, and the administrative fines are increased. (Amended Articles 43 to 46 and 48)
11.For violations of the provisions of this Act, the published items are expanded to include the date of disposition, the violated provisions, and the amount of fines; in the event of an occupational accident, the published information is expanded to include the location of occurrence and the number of affected persons. (Amended Article 49)
12.It is added that independent operators, when working independently or entrusting their work to contractors, shall be subject to the hazard notification and contracted occupational safety and health management requirements under this Act. (Amended Article 51)
13.It is added that when an enterprise conducts goods transactions or delivery digitally and entrusts individuals with no employment relationship to personally perform delivery tasks, the enterprise shall mutatis mutandis comply with the relevant employer obligations under this Act. (Amended Article 51-1)
Paul Hsu / Julia Kuo
