Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday.
The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays.
The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration
Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited to the private sector.
The legislation also designates Sept. 28 (Confucius’ Birthday, also known as Teachers’ Day), Oct. 25 (marking the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou in Kinmen in 1949) and Dec. 25 (Constitution Day) as new national holidays.
The act came into effect following a presidential decree issued late last month, which decided that these three new holidays should come in the second half of this year.
According to the latest calendar released by the Cabinet’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration, the other eight extended holidays next year would include two four-day breaks and six three-day weekends.
The first four-day holiday would come in early April, combining Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Festival.
The second is to fall in late September, covering Mid-Autumn Festival and Teachers’ Day.
The calendar stipulates that when a national holiday falls on a Saturday, the make-up day shall be on the preceding Friday, and when it falls on a Sunday, the make-up day shall be the following Monday.
However, if a national holiday falls on a Thursday — as in Constitution Day next year — no day off would be given on Friday to avoid the need for a make-up workday.
The agency said that the new calendar applies only to public servants and employees of state-run enterprises.
Workers in other sectors — such as police, firefighters, coast guard personnel and military staff — may adjust their schedules according to operational needs.
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