Human Rights Assessment at Business Premises
Taiwan Business Bank and subsidiaries (hereinafter as the Bank), strictly comply with local laws and regulations implementing to the bank's branches and offices around the globe, including the Labor Standards Act and the Act of Gender Equality in Employment of R.O.C. The Bank is committed to and supports the values and fundamental principles of human rights protections from internationally accepted standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Global Compact and International Labour Organization. For the purpose of implementing such principles above-mentioned and undertaking the responsibility to protect fundamental human rights, the Bank hereby enacts this policy to comply with. The scope of this policy applies to the global operations of the Bank and subsidiaries, including but not limited to full-time and contracted third-party workers, and we hold mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, suppliers and other business partners to comply with this policy with the same expectations.
In accordance with the characteristics of the financial industry and the Bank's operation strategies, the following concerns are heavily weighted by the Bank for implementing fundamental human rights protection of employees, customers, stakeholders and fulfilling the Bank's corporate social responsibility.
The Bank is dedicated to creating a diverse, open, equal, and harassment-free working environment, and does not allow any violations of human rights, such as child labor, forced labor, working overtime, human trafficking, etc. Any form of discrimination and unequal treatment is strictly prohibited including but not limited to gender, sexual orientation, race, societal hierarchy, age, marital status, language, thought, orthodoxy, belief, religion, political preference, originality, appearance, physical/mental handicap, constellation and blood type or union membership. The Bank commit that employees will not be treated differently by gender, race, age, marital and family status, etc., and will implement equality in remuneration, employment conditions, training and promotion opportunities, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees.
In addition, the Bank provides various and secured ways to lodge compliant against discriminations in that protecting employees' rights.
Not only the Bank strives to fulfill its corporate social responsibility and the human rights policy, but also collaborating with all business partners to concentrate on the identification of risks of violation relating to human rights, reducing potential impacts caused from violations thus offering employees a safer working environment.
01 Human rights due diligence | 02 Human rights risk assessment and improvement | 03 Human rights awareness and training |
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TBB continues to follow international human rights issues. Human rights due diligence is performed to investigate and identify human rights risks in TBB's operations, value chain, and new business relationships (such as mergers and joint ventures) in order to eliminate potential human rights impact. | Mitigating measures and improvements are devised for identified major human rights risks, and make compensation for risks that cannot be completely eliminated. | TBB continues to promote human rights training for employees to raise human rights awareness and help employees understand their own rights as well as grievance channels and remedies. |
Human rights policy | Specific management programs | |
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Protection of human rights in the workplace | Tolerance and gender equality in workplace |
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Prevention of sexual harassment and zero tolerance for discrimination |
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Prohibit forced labor and adhere strictly to local governments' labor laws |
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Include human rights clauses in supplier contracts and enforce onsite audits | Please see "Prevention and Mitigation of Direct Impact of Occupational Health and Safety Issues on Business Activities" for more details. | |
Provide a safe work environment |
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Support the freedom of association and collective bargaining |
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Protection of personal information and cybersecurity | Privacy protection |
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In addition, TBB continues to conduct human rights training, including the Personal Data Protection Act, ethical management training, theories, and practices of Fair Customer Treatment Principles in the banking sector, and general health and safety training for employees. In 2022, human rights training was completed 16,788 person-times and took a total of 35,226 hours. Furthermore, a onehour gender equality course was introduced into basic training for new hires in 2019.
To ensure gender equality in opportunity and create a friendly workplace and service that prevents discrimination and harassment of any form, TBB has complies with relevant laws and adopted a zero-tolerance approach to ensure that employees are treated with respect, fairness, and equality in the workplace and service environment, and are protected from discrimination and harassment. The Bank has established the Anti-discrimination and Anti-harassment Policy and the Guidelines for Measures of Prevention, Complaint, and Punishment of Sexual Harassment to ensure employees receive respect and reasonable and equal treatment. Related information should be posted and disclosed in clearly visible places in the offices.
If TBB employees discover or experience incidents of discrimination or harassment in the workplace, they may report them through the following channels, either in writing or verbally:
- Complaint handling unit:Individual service units or Human Resources Office
- Reporting hotline: 02-25508628
- Dedicated fax for reporting: 02-25591130
- Reporting email: h13s@mail.tbb.com.tw
After receiving a report, the Bank's Human Resources Department will conduct a thorough review and investigation in accordance with internal procedures. The whistleblower should provide specific facts, relevant information, and documents for the report. Unless otherwise required by laws, relevant personnel in the Bank conducting investigations into discrimination or harassment incidents, including any third parties commissioned to conduct the investigation, shall ensure the confidentiality of the personal data and privacy of whistleblowers and those involved in the investigation. Adequate protective measures shall be taken in accordance with the law, and any form of retaliation or unfair treatment is strictly prohibited.
TBB periodically promotes the concept of preventing discrimination and harassment to all employees through educational training or other channels. If discrimination or harassment is substantiated, apart from taking appropriate measures to rectify the violation, the Bank may impose disciplinary actions on the offender based on the severity of the situation, such as a warning, demotion, salary reduction, or termination, in accordance with work rules, disciplinary guidelines, and other relevant regulations. If a false accusation is confirmed, the Bank may impose disciplinary actions on the whistleblower based on the severity of the situation. If either party involved in the incident requires counseling, medical assistance, or legal assistance, the Bank may proactively refer them or provide professional counseling, medical institutions, or legal assistance.
In addition, whenever the Bank receives a complaint or becomes aware of sexual violation or harassment within itself, it shall exercise caution and take immediate and effective corrective and remedial action in order to fulfill its duty of preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. For the purpose of handling sexual harassment complaints, the Bank has created the Sexual Harassment Complaint Investigation Committee as required. Investigation of sexual harassment incidents will not be disclosed and will be conducted in an objective, impartial, and professional manner. The committee should keep confidential all information regarding such incidents of which it becomes aware during an investigation. Where the party involved is in need of counseling, medical care, or legal assistance, the Bank may take initiative to make a referral or provide professional counseling, medical institutions, or legal assistance. Inappropriate preferences may not be given to any person involved in making a complaint, filing a lawsuit, reporting an incident, taking legal action, testifying, providing assistance or other behaviors during the complaint, investigation, surveillance, or review procedure for sexual harassment incidents. The Bank will not dismiss, reassign, or take any other unfavorable action based on a complaint filed or assistance provided to another in filing a complaint.
There were 2 sexual harassment complaints in 2022. One was withdrawn and the other was processed and closed. To develop a gender friendly environment, the Bank will continue to raise awareness among employees to pay attention to their own conduct, adhere to social boundaries and workplace etiquette, and respect each other. There was no disciplinary action taken for violation of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment in 2022.
In addition to actively fulfilling its CSR and human rights policy, TBB brings all business partners into the effort to pay more attention to human rights issues and risk identification and reduce potential crisis and impact. Enforcement of programs to protect human rights and follow-up on progress and improvement help create a fairer and safer work environment and raise awareness of international human rights. There was no incident involving violation of human rights in 2022.