Go to Content Area :::

Constitutional Court R.O.C. (Taiwan) Logo

Home Sitemap 中文版
   

Decisions

Home > Decisions > Interpretations (before 2022)
:::
:::
  • Interpretation
  • No.285【Under Translation】
  • Date
  • 1991/09/27
  • Issue
    • Are the relevant administrative order and guidelines, which stipulate that retired government and public school employees are not entitled to the family funeral allowance unconstitutional?
  • Holding
    •        The “monthly pension payment”, stipulated in the Act Governing the Retirement of School Teachers and Staff (hereinafter, “the Act”), does not include the “family funeral allowance” by its nature. The wording “family funeral allowance not included in the pension payment” was interpreted in the Tai (69) Ren Cheng Si Tze No. 7498 Letter, issued by the Executive Yuan on April 16, 1980. This interpretation does not violate the legislative purpose of the Act. Moreover, the “Central Government and Public School Employee Welfare Subsidies Payments Guidelines” (hereinafter, “the Guidelines”), issued by the Executive Yuan, are mandated to ensure the livelihood of the current government and public school employees. The Guidelines are discretionary measures made by the authorized administrative agency, and do not apply to non-government employees. Retired government employees, of course, are not entitled to the “family funeral allowance” payment. Therefore, the relevant administrative order and guidelines issued by the Executive Yuan do not violate the Constitution.
  • Reasoning
    •        The “monthly pension payment”, regulated in Article 8 of the Act Governing the Retirement of School Teachers and Staff (hereinafter, “the Act”), includes basic remuneration and other cash allowances. By its nature, it does not include the “family funeral allowance”, which is not paid monthly and is not available until certain events occur. The wording “family funeral allowance not included in the pension payment” was interpreted in the Tai (69) Ren Cheng Si Tze No. 7498 Letter, issued by the Executive Yuan on April 16, 1980. This interpretation does not violate the legislative purpose of the Act. Moreover, the “Central Government and Public School Employee Welfare Subsidies Payments Guidelines”(hereinafter, “the Guidelines”), issued by the Executive Yuan in the Tai (77) Ren Cheng Si Tze No. 23391 Letter on June 30, 1988, are mandated to ensure the livelihood of the current government and public school employees. The Guidelines are discretionary measures made by the authorized administrative agency. Article 4 of the Guidelines provides that the Guidelines are only applicable to current government employees under the limited budgets of government agencies and public schools. Retired government employees are not entitled to apply for the “family funeral allowance”. Therefore, the relevant administrative order and guidelines issued by the Executive Yuan do not violate the Constitution. The extra benefits, besides the pension payment, paid by the government to provide for the livelihood of retired employees are remunerated under administrative discretion after calculating the nation’s capital and the nature of all kinds of benefits. However, retired government employees are not entitled to all of the benefits available to current government employees. 
      
    • *Translated by Professor Chin-Chin Cheng.
Back Top