The Cabinet will not announce a draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) until it has completed a round of negotiations with lawmakers, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
Two versions of the amendment will be proposed for deliberation, with the final approval likely by the middle of next month, it added.
The Executive Yuan has reached an understanding with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to ease the one mandatory weekly day off requirement, with a new rule stipulating two mandatory days off every 14 days to be in place, local media reported.
The act stipulates a mandatory day off and a flexible rest day every week while employees can be asked to work on rest days.
The proposed new rule would allow employers to ask employees to work 12 days in a row bookended by two mandatory days off over a 14-day period, with employees asked to work on the two rest days provided that they agree on the consecutive working scheme.
However, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that proposal was put forward by lawmakers, adding that the Cabinet has yet to announce its own draft.
“The Ministry of Labor will put forward draft versions of the amendment. There will likely be two versions — version A and version B — for consideration,” Hsu said.
The announcement would be after today’s plenary legislative session, as Premier William Lai (賴清德) would like to understand lawmakers’ opinions during the session, Hsu said.
Following the debates over the drafts, the Cabinet would convene a coordination meeting between the Executive Yuan and the DPP caucus for further discussion, he said.
The two drafts are likely to differ in terms of overtime payment and minimum rest time between shifts.
One of the proposals would raise the cap on total overtime hours from 46 hours to 54 hours per month, while the other would raise the maximum overtime hours to 138 hours over a three-month period, allowing businesses to adjust to seasonal staffing needs.
In terms of rest time regulations, one of the drafts would keep the 11-hour minimum rest time between shifts, which can be lowered to eight hours with the consent of employees, while the other draft would lower the rest time to eight hours, which can be extended to 11 hours if employees and employers reach an agreement.
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