The Executive Yuan last week approved draft amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that would enable more flexible work days on a conditional basis.
Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) said there would be standard procedures and review mechanisms for approving applications to work more days.
However, the current review mechanism, the Labor Standards Consultation Committee, has an unnecessarily high standard for approval and takes a long time.
Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed changes appear to allow more flexible arrangements, but they are unlikely to get approved. As a result, most companies do not expect the draft bill to change things.
The committee consists of equal numbers of employers, employees and labor experts. It is responsible for reviewing special cases mentioned in the Labor Standards Act, as well as exceptions that are not included in the law.
It has reviewed many flexible work hour cases since the passage of the labor law at the end of last year, and under the draft amendments, it would continue to be responsible for reviewing applications.
However, the committee has a reputation for being extremely strict and conservative. Applications are usually not approved.
To make it even more difficult, the draft amendments require that people applying for more flexible schedules must gain approval from national-level regulatory authorities in addition to the committee.
Furthermore, companies with at least 30 employees that are applying for more flexible schedules must report to local regulatory authorities.
Many different sectors have applied for more flexible schedules based on Article 30-1 of the act, which states that regular work hours may be distributed to other work days within four weeks.
However, most of the applications were rejected by the committee. From 1997 to 1999, only schedules from 38 sectors were approved based on the article. Over the next several years, only four more sectors were added to the list.
For the 12 years from 2003 to 2015, the Ministry of Labor did not approve any applications, illustrating the extremely high threshold for approval.
One example is the gas wholesale and retail sector, which was approved to have more flexible schedules based on the article.
A gas union in August last year sent a formal application to the Ministry of Labor, but the ministry did not hold the first committee meeting until late December. After three meetings, it revealed its decision in March and made the official announcement on June 16. The entire process took 10 months.
This lengthy process runs counter to the needs of businesses, which can easily miss opportunities because of delays.
Chen Yung-chang is deputy secretary-general of the Taipei Chamber of Commerce.
Translated by Tu Yu-an
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