Taipei Times
Date: Apr 29, 2020
By: Chang Yi-chen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Hostels and hotels in Yilan County yesterday began recalling workers on unpaid leave after a Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ subsidy program for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic went into effect.

To be eligible for the program, a business must have seen its business last month plunge 50 percent compared with March last year and must be operational, without downsizing staff or asking more than 20 percent of employees to take unpaid leave or pay cuts.

The subsidies would provide 40 percent of each employee’s monthly salary, to a maximum of NT$20,000, for three months.

The Yilan County Government said 18 businesses applied to have more than 500 employees take unpaid leave due to the pandemic, with the hospitality industry accounting for eight of the firms and more than 400 employees.    [FULL  STORY]