2018.2.27
Jonathan Chao
The Ministry of Labor promulgated the Application Scope of the Proviso in Article 34, Paragraph 2 of the Labor Standards Act, which came into effect on March 1, 2018, via Lao-Dong-Tiao-Three-1070130305 Directive of February 27, 2018.
Under Article 34, Paragraph 2 of the Labor Standards Act, there shall be at least a rest period of 11 straight hours after each shift change of a shift worker, provided that the rest period may be exceptionally changed, to the extent that it should not fall short of eight straight hours, if an announcement is made by the central competent authority upon request of the central competent authority for specified business due to work characteristics or special reasons. This requirement came into effect on March 1, 2018.
The central competent authority for specified business has concluded, as a result of its assessment, that the scope of work handled by specific workers is indeed professional in nature, that it is difficult to replenish manpower in a short period of time due to special procedures and schedules for the recruitment and training of personnel, and that the application of the requirement of the 11-hour rest time between shifts mentioned above is indeed difficult to comply due to work characteristics or special reasons such as an act of god, accident or emergency. In addition, considering that the railway transportation industry is required to fulfill the mission of transportation and that oil, electricity and water are essential items in the daily lives of the people, it is indeed necessary to allow appropriate flexibility in arranging the shift of special workers to prevent the public’s right to transportation access and convenience of life from being affected. Therefore, after prudently consulting representatives of workers, businesses, governments and the academia with regard to the application of exceptional rules for the changing of rest periodsunder necessary situations for special workers, the Ministry of Labor announced the Application Scope of the Proviso in Article 34, Paragraph 2 of the Labor Standards Act in the following table.
| Scope of Application | Applicable Period |
| Transport crews of the Taiwan Railway Administration, MOTC (train assistants, drivers, train driver masters, train preparers, technical assistants, assistant engineers, engineers, train captains, conductors and station assistants) | March 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019 |
| Shift workers of Taiwan Power Company, CPC CorporationTaiwan and Taiwan Sugar Corporation, which are affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs | March 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019 |
| With respect to equipment and pipelinesas well as raw materials and products of CPC Corporation Taiwan and Taiwan Water Corporation affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, workers involved in their maintenance, production, transportation, distribution and provision. | Handling period during a natural disaster, incident or emergency |