萬國法律事務所

With the increasing numbers of disputes regarding frequent deaths attributed to circumstances of overworked security service personnel, the Taipei City Department of Labor (DOL) has led the way in reducing the maximum monthly number of work hours for workers under Article 84-1 of Labor Standards Act (LSA) from 312 hours to 260 hours. The DOLs of Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tainan Cities all indicated that they will follow suit.

Per the relevant provisions of the LSA, the maximum monthly number of work hours for workers is 238. However, under Article 84-1 of the LSA, for more than 30 types of employment, including security personnel, the maximum monthly number of work hours may be arranged, without being subject to said restrictions, through agreements between employees and employers, provided such agreements are submitted to the local relevant authorities for approval and registration.

Due to recent increasing occurrences of death attributed to overwork, the Taipei City DOL enacted new regulations reducing the maximum monthly number of work hours from 312 to 260. This decision will impact mostly upon the security services industry, with 108 security service companies of the 517 in Taiwan located in Taipei, employing around 25,000 workers.

The new regulation will become effective from mid-April 2011 and will be applicable to newly-hired workers. Taipei City DOL officials indicate that, in order for the new policy to equally apply to both newly-hired and existing workers, DOL is cooperating with the Law and Regulation Commission of the Taipei City Government, the issue of retroactive application of the new regulation. Even without retroactive application, as the annual turnaround rate of security service personnel is as high as 30%, many will still benefit from the new regulation.

The DOLs of Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tainan Cities have all indicated that they will follow suit in this endeavor, but so far only Kaohsiung City supports retroactive application of the regulation. Officials from the Labor Affairs Department of the New Taipei City Government have indicated that retroactive application may lead to massive unemployment due to direct business closures from employers facing great increases in costs.

Representatives from the security service industry have expressed hopes that the city government will allow some negotiation, as the new policy is, in their opinion, being implemented too quickly and forcing companies to employ significant numbers of additional employees. Not only will employers’ costs increase, but, employees’ incomes will also be greatly reduced and employees may be forced to take up other part-time jobs after work, thereby resulting in a lose-lose situation for both the employers and employees and likely defeating the purpose of the regulation.