How many hours do you work per day? Are your working hours within the limits set by the law? In this article, we will talk about working hours in Taiwan, based on the country’s Labor Standards Act (LSA), and implemented by the Ministry of Labor (MOL).
Your working hours, along with other details such as overtime pay, rest days, salary, and benefits should be clearly stated in your employment contract. Since your salary is calculated based on the number of hours that you’ve worked, it’s important for you to know the labor standards.
Regular Working Hours, Overtime, and Rest Days in Taiwan
The Labor Standards Act (LSA) includes provisions for regular or normal working hours, overtime, and rest days. Here is an overview of these provisions, according to the official website of the Ministry of Labor (MOL):
Regular Working Hours
Item 1, Article 30 of the LSA states that regular or normal working hours should not exceed eight (8) hours in a day. Correspondingly, it should not be more than 40 hours in a week.
Moreover, for transparency, employers should track and record their employees’ working hours, especially since this will be the basis for computing their salaries. They should also keep their employees’ attendance records for five (5) years, and be ready for labor inspections by the MOL.
Overtime
When employees’ working hours exceed the limits set by the law, these are considered as “overtime,” and therefore the employees must be compensated at an “overtime rate.” Before anything else, though, a company may ask its employees to work overtime only if they have the consent of the labor union, or — if there is no labor union — the consent of the labor management conference.
In accordance with the LSA, the number of working hours should not exceed 12 hours in a day; this includes both regular working hours and overtime. Consequently, the total number of overtime (or extended working hours) should not be more than 46 hours in a month. This period may be extended to 53 hours in a month, as long as the total number of overtime does not exceed 138 hours within a three-month period.
Rest Days
Aside from regular working hours and overtime, employers are mandated to set rest days for their employees. The LSA states that there should be two (2) days off every seven (7) days. One of these days is fixed and compulsory, while the other day is “flexible,” which means that employees may be asked to work and be paid with an overtime rate.
In Taiwan, the regular working days are usually from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being the rest days. Typically, Saturday is the “flexible” day when employees are sometimes asked to work overtime. On the other hand, Sunday is the fixed rest day, and employees are generally not asked to work on Sundays, unless there has been a prior agreement between them and their employer.
The above provisions on working hours, overtime, and rest days have been established to ensure that workers are not overworked, and for them to have “work life balance.” In contrast, part-time workers are those whose jobs involve less than 40 hours of service in a week. Check out this article to learn more about working part-time in Taiwan.