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Chapter Law Content

Title: Gender Equity Education Act CH
Category: Ministry of Education(教育部)
Chapter 5 Application for Investigation and Remedy
Article 31
A victim of a gender-related incident on campus, his/her legal representative, or de facto custodian may apply for an investigation in writing to the school with which the offender is affiliated. However, when the offender is currently or was previously the principal of the school, the application shall be made to the school's competent authority.
Anyone with the knowledge of the events mentioned in the preceding Paragraph may report them to the school or competent authority according to prescribed procedures.
Schools and competent authorities shall not impose adverse sanctions or measures against a victim or any person who applies for an investigation, reports an incident, or assists others in applying for an investigation or reporting an incident.
Article 32
After receiving an application for investigation or a report of an offense, the school or competent authority shall notify the applicant, victim, or informant in writing within twenty days whether the application is accepted.
The school or competent authority shall reject the application or offense report if one of the following applies:
1. Events not prescribed in the regulations of this Act.
2. Applicants or informants who do not provide their real names.
3. A case that has already been handled and closed.
The notification in the preceding paragraph shall explain the reason of its rejection in writing.
The applicant, victim, or informant may submit a written request for reconsideration to the school or competent authority, specifying the grounds for reconsideration, if he/she does not receive notification of the application's disposition within the time limit specified in Paragraph 1 or may do so within twenty days from the day following receipt of notification that the application is rejected.
Article 33
After receiving an application or a report of an offense referred to in Paragraph 1 of the previous article, a school or competent authority shall delegate the matter to its gender equity education committee within three days to handle an investigation, except when the circumstances referred to in Paragraph 2 of the previous article apply.
When the gender equity education committee of a school or competent authority is handling an incident referred to in the previous Paragraph, it may set up an investigation team to investigate the matter; when necessary, some or all appointed members of the investigation team may be persons from outside the educational institution or competent authority. However, if the offender is a principal, teacher, staff member, or worker, an investigation team shall be established, and all of its members shall be external appointees. The investigation teams in which all appointed members are from outside the educational institution or competent authority and the completed investigation reports that occurred before the amendments to this Act takes effect on December 30, 2018, were legal.
Members of the investigation team shall have an awareness of gender equity, and the number of female members is not permitted to be fewer than half of the total number of members. At least one-third of any investigation team at the school level and at least one half of any investigation team at the competent authority level shall be experts or scholars with professional expertise in the investigation of gender-related incidents on campus. The qualifications required for members shall be determined by the central competent authority.
When the parties involved in a gender-related incident on campus belong to different schools, each investigation team specified in the previous Paragraph shall also include one or more representatives of the school with which the victim is affiliated. However, if the victim, his/her legal representative, or his/her de facto custodian requests that the school where the victim is currently enrolled not be notified, and the gender equity education committee determines that there is no need to make such notification, this requirement does not apply.
When a gender equity education committee or an investigation team carries out an investigation in accordance with the provisions of this Act the perpetrator, the applicant, and any person(s) who or unit(s) which have been asked to assist in the investigation shall cooperate and provide pertinent information, and shall not evade, obstruct, or refuse.
Applicable provisions of the Administrative Procedure Law regarding jurisdiction, referral of cases, recusal, service of notifications, and amendments shall be applied in this Act or apply, mutatis mutandis.
Article 34
The handling of the investigation of a case by a gender equity education committee will not be affected by any judicial procedures regarding the same case.
When investigating and handling a case, the gender equity education committee shall take into account the difference in power between the two parties.
When an investigation finds that an individual may have been involved in suspected gender-related incidents on campus at different schools, the schools where the individual is currently employed and previously employed shall be notified of the timing and nature of the suspected incidents and cooperate in their investigation. The notified schools shall not refuse.
If the investigation finds that the same individual is involved in suspected gender-related incidents with different victims, these cases may be investigated together.
Article 35
If a school principal is involved in a gender-related incident on campus, and the gender equity education committee established by the school's competent authority deems it to be of a serious nature, requiring adjustment to or the suspension of the principal's duties during the investigation, the school's competent authority may institute such an adjustment or suspension. However, if the principal holds a military position, the Act of Assignment for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Force and related regulations shall apply.
An individual who has been suspended from duties as stipulated in the preceding Paragraph may apply for reinstatement and to receive the base salary, seniority-based salary, or the equivalent renumeration for the period he/she has been suspended from duties in accordance with this Act or other relevant laws if the investigation does not conclude that the offense occurred, or if it concludes that the offense occurred but the suspension of duties, dismissal from employment, termination of appointment, suspension of appointment, or non-renewal of appointment has not been carried out in accordance with laws governing civil servants, educational personnel, or other relevant regulations.
Schools and competent authorities shall not accept retirement (military discharge) or severance applications from a principal or faculty member, civil servant, or member of the military employed or appointed by a school upon learning that he/she has been involved in a campus gender-related incident and lawfully subject to suspension of appointment, termination of appointment, non-renewal of appointment, referral for disciplinary action, or submission for review by the Control Yuan, or during a period of lawful suspension of duties or dismissal from employment.
Article 36
The Gender Equity Education Committee of the school or competent authority shall complete its investigation of a case within two months from the date the application or offense report is accepted.
The investigation may be extended at most twice if necessary, and each extension may not exceed one-month’s time. The applicant, victim, informant, and offender shall be notified of the extension.
After the investigation is complete, the Gender Equity Education Committee shall submit a written report to its school or competent authority regarding the investigation and suggestions for handling.
After receiving the aforesaid investigation report, the school or competent authority shall put forth a disposition or turn it over to the pertinent authority for a decision within two months according to this Act or pertinent laws or regulations. The school or competent authority shall notify in writing the applicant, victim, informant, and offender of its handling conclusion, facts established and grounds.
Before reaching the aforesaid conclusion, the school or competent authority may request representative(s) of its Gender Equity Education Committee to attend the meeting for clarification.
Article 37
If not agreeing with the conclusion referred to in Paragraph 3 of the preceding Article, the applicant, victim, and offender may, within thirty days from the day following receipt of the written notification, submit a written request for reconsideration to the school or competent authority, specifying the grounds for reconsideration. However, if the offender is the principal, a teacher, staff member, or worker, the applicant or victim may make the request for reconsideration directly to the competent authority.
The aforesaid request for reconsideration may be made only once.
The school or competent authority may request that its gender equity education committee reinvestigate the case if, upon reconsideration of the original investigation's conclusion, the school or competent authority finds significant flaws in the investigative procedure, or identifies new facts or new evidence sufficient to affect the original investigation's determination. In the case of a request for reconsideration filed directly with the competent authority under the provisions of Paragraph 1, the reinvestigation shall be completed within forty days.
If, upon reconsideration conducted pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 1, the competent authority determines that the conclusion reached by the school's investigation is unlawful or otherwise inappropriate, it may when necessary and in accordance with the recommendations of the gender equity education committee directly impose a remedy or specify the reasons for returning the matter to the school for handling in conformance with the law, and shall also hold responsible individuals accountable.
Article 38
After receiving request for reinvestigation from the school or competent authority, the Gender Equity Education Committee shall organize a new investigation team, whose investigation and handling procedures shall follow pertinent regulations prescribed by this Act.
Article 39
If not satisfied with the disposition of the reconsideration, the applicant, victim, or offender may petition for relief according to the following regulations within thirty days from the day following receipt of the written notification. However, if there are countervailing legal provisions, those provisions shall prevail:
1. School principals and teachers: regulations prescribed by the Teachers' Act or relevant laws and regulations shall apply.
2. Civil service employees in public schools who are hired according to the Civil Service Employment Act and employees hired before the effective date(May 3rd, 1985)of the Statute for Appointment of Educational Personnel: regulations prescribed by the Civil Servant Protection Act shall apply.
3. School students: petition the school with which they are affiliated in accordance with regulations.
The relief provided for in the preceding Paragraph may only be initiated after the decision on reconsideration has been rendered.
Article 40
When a school's competent authority investigates and handles gender-related incidents on campus, it shall provide the school with consultation services, counseling assistance, legal supervision, or corrective actions.
If the school's competent authority finds that the school's gender equity education committee has failed to convene meetings in accordance with the law, has convened meetings but has failed to review matters for which review is required, or its investigation has procedural or substantive flaws, or if there are legal uncertainties regarding the investigation's determinations, and such findings are made before completion of the school's reconsideration process, the competent authority shall specify the reasons and notify the school to address these matters in tandem with the reconsideration process. If such matters are not addressed in tandem with the reconsideration process or if a request for reconsideration is not made within the specified time period, the competent authority shall return the matters, specifying the grounds for doing so, to the school's gender equity education committee for review within a prescribed period.
After the competent authority returns the matters to the school's gender equity education committee for review pursuant to the preceding Paragraph, if the school's gender equity education committee fails to conduct a review in accordance with the law within the prescribed period or if the results of the review still raise concerns of illegality or impropriety, the competent authority may refer the matters directly to the gender equity education committee it has established, specifying the grounds for doing so, and this committee's determination shall be considered as equivalent to a determination by the school's gender equity education committee.
When the competent authority's review of the circumstances described in the preceding paragraph reaches a determination that the school is at fault, the competent authority shall include that determination as a factor in school evaluation, reduction of grants (subsidies), or administrative assessment, and shall also hold responsible individuals accountable.
Article 41
The school or competent authority shall establish facts relevant to cases prescribed by the Act according to the investigation report provided by its Gender Equity Education Committee.
The court shall consult the investigation reports provided by the Gender Equity Education Committee at different levels in establishing facts referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 42
In cases where the offender involved in a gender-related incident on campus is a school principal, teacher, staff member, or worker, and the affected student suffers harm as a result of the incident, the offender shall be liable for compensatory damages.
Even if the harm described in the previous Paragraph does not involve a financial loss, the student may request monetary damages commensurate with the harm. In cases of reputational harm, the student may request appropriate measures to restore his/her reputation.
In addition to liability for compensatory damages pursuant to the provisions of the previous two Paragraphs, a court may, if the victim so requests and depending on the severity of the offense, impose punitive damages ranging from one to three times the compensatory damages. If the offender is a school principal, the court may impose punitive damages ranging from three to five times the compensatory damages.