Union to Protest Unpaid Overtime; Taipei Veterans General Hospital Says It Has Already Proactively Sought Retroactive Payment for 5 Years

(Central News Agency, Reporter Shen Pei-yao, Taipei 11th) The labor union accused Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital (KVGH) of illegally withholding overtime pay for years, and that grassroots employees faced difficulties when trying to claim it. They will protest tomorrow. TVGH Superintendent Chen Wei-ming said today that the hospital proactively announced last year that it would retroactively pay overtime balances for the past five years, but because it involves thousands of employees, a certain amount of processing time is required.

According to a press release from the TVGH Union, this year, the Veterans Affairs Council's hospitals are handling the retroactive payment of five years of overtime. However, TVGH and KVGH have set up numerous obstacles to block employee applications, including limiting claims to overtime balances of one hour or less, restricting claims to dates on which overtime was previously reported, and setting extremely short application deadlines, severely reducing employees' rightful wages. The union will protest at the main gate of TVGH tomorrow.

In response to the union's demands for "lenient and swift processing of retroactive overtime payments, and calculating overtime balances by the minute," Superintendent Chen explained via text message today that TVGH was the first public hospital to officially implement a system for calculating overtime pay by the minute, starting July 10, 2024. Furthermore, during an operational briefing on August 4, 2025, the hospital proactively announced the retroactive payment of overtime balances for the past five years, fully demonstrating the hospital's determination and actions to actively protect employee rights.

Chen stated that the retroactive calculation process involves thousands of employees and requires significant manpower for data collection, organization, verification, and calculation. It is a massive and complex project. Moreover, the colleagues handling this task are taking on this additional responsibility on top of their existing duties, so a certain amount of time is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the calculations.

"The retroactive payment of overtime must be based on actual overtime facts and related records," Chen stated bluntly. For example, if an employee stays in the hospital after work for personal matters or club activities before swiping their card to leave, it could lead to inaccurate calculation results, making it impossible to balance system fairness and substantive justice.

Chen emphasized that the hospital's commitment to caring for its employees remains unchanged. He asked the labor union to understand the time required for the related administrative work and expressed belief that through rational communication and joint efforts, they can balance employee rights and system fairness, continuously fostering a workplace environment of mutual trust and cooperation. (Editor: Zhang Mingkun) 1150611