The Ministry of Labor on Wednesday issued a new directive, saying that from Aug. 1 it will be illegal for employees to work more than six consecutive days without a day off.
The new regulation replaces a labor law that allowed private sector employees to work 12 consecutive days and have two days off over a two-week period.
The decision to change the regulation was made in response to a Legislative Yuan resolution that stipulated workers must take at least one day off a week, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Hsieh Chien-chien (謝倩蒨) said.
The legislative resolution said that it is damaging to health to work 12 consecutive days, Hsieh said.
“We have stipulated that employees and unions must agree to the change, but we cannot ensure that employers will not force workers to work 12 days in a row by allocating the required two days off at the beginning and end of the two week period,” she said.
The government’s latest “pro-labor” gesture drew ire from business associations, whose leaders said that it would make business operations more difficult and trigger labor disputes.
The ministry’s new regulation would tie the hands of department store operators, particularly during the high season, National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Lin Hui-ying (林慧瑛) said.
Another drawback is that lower-paid employees who need extra income would not be able to earn as much overtime, Lin said.
She said she feared that the unilateral decision to change the regulation would be disadvantageous to workers, employers and the government.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
RSS