萬國法律事務所

Ministry of Labor records show that Taiwan has the third-highest legal working hours per year in the world, reaching 2124 hours per year. In reaction to the public’s concern on such prevalent overwork condition of labors in Taiwan, the Ministry of Labor announced a new guideline specifically cap monthly working hours for security guards at 288 hours. More than 70000 workers in the industry are expected to benefit from the new guideline.

Article 30 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates that workers’ regular working hours should be capped at 8 hours a day and 84 hours every two weeks. However, some kinds of industry with special nature of their work, such as the securities, are not subject to articled 30 but covered by article 84-1 of the Labor Standards Act, with working hours being set according to the agreement between employers and employees. Nonetheless, such agreements shall be submitted to the local competent authorities for approval.

Since the introduction of article 84-1, in 1998, the Ministry of Labor had set a guideline for securities guards, capping regular working hours per day, including overwork hours, at 12 hours per day. Over the years, under such guideline, actual working hours of the industry among Taiwan varies widely. Recent investigation by the media shows that Taipei and Tainan are the two most overworked cities with monthly working hours of securities hitting as high as 312 hours per month. The Ministry of Labor thus find it necessary to announce a new guideline providing a national standard strictly limiting monthly hours of the industry no more than 288 per month.

The new guideline also makes it clear that security guards should not continuously work for more than 12 days, in replace of the old guideline’s rules on 2 days off in every 2 weeks. Besides, to avoid shifts between day and night become too intensive, the gap between two shifts shall be at least 11 hours.

Another feature of the new guideline is its new framing and due process protection on “emergency condition” allowing overwork hours. Under the new guideline, only under “God’s act or breaking events,” and with notification to the worker’s union within 24 hours of such condition or afterwards report to the local authorities for approval can the guards be legally required to overwork.