萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan recently passed an amendment to the Labor Standards Law that lengthens from two weeks to eight weeks the flex-time that employees are allotted in order to fulfill their work quotas. The same amendments additionally relax the previous restrictions on women working at night and are expected to improve women’s chances when seeking more equal employment opportunities in Taiwan.

According to the regulations as amended, employers will be able to utilize flexible working hours from eight-week time blocks, during which an employee’s maximum work week will be limited to forty-eight hours. Presently, employers utilize two-week time blocks with employees who are permitted to toil for a maximum of eighty-four hours from that time block.

According to the current regulations, women are not permitted to work between the hours of ten-o-clock in the evening through six-o-clock in the morning. The amended regulations, however, stipulates that so long as employers reach an agreement with labor organizations, women can choose their hours of work according to their own preferences. Unchanged by the amendments, however, is the prohibition against pregnant women workers from working certain hours.

The regulations as amended also allow women to work the same amount of overtime as men are permitted. Under current rules, women are only allowed to work two hours overtime a day while men can work for three.