April 2018
The Ministry of Labor announced the Designated Industries under Article 36, Paragraph 4 of the Labor Standards Act (Taiwan)
Debby Yu
The Ministry of Labor promulgated the Designated Industries under Article 36, Paragraph 4 of the Labor Standards Act, which came into effect on March 1, 2018, via the Lao-Dong-Tiao-Three-Zi-1070130320 Circular of February 27, 2018.
Article 36, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Standards Act provides: "A worker shall have two days off every seven days with one as a regular holiday and the other as a rest day." The arrangements of regular holidays shall treat every seven days as a cycle with at least one regular holiday in each cycle. In principle, a worker shall not work continuously for over six days. However, Paragraph 4 of the same article provides that with the approval of the central competent authority for specified business and for an industry designated by the central competent authority, an employer may adjust regular holidays within each 7-day cycle on an exceptional basis. With respect to the exception to the requirement of one regular holiday every seven days under Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act, the Ministry of Labor announced, via the Lao-Dong-Tiao-Three-Zi-1070130320 Circular of February 27, 2018, that the designated industries are those which indeed meet the exceptional circumstances in terms of "special timing," "special locations," "special characteristics" and "special conditions" and which are approved by the central competent authorities for specified business before they are submitted to the Ministry of Labor for announcement.As for the above regular holiday adjustments, Paragraph 5 of the same article provides that the approval of the labor union should be obtained. If the business organization has no labor union, such adjustment requires the approval of an employee-management conference. It should also be noted that if the employer hires over 30 workers, application shall be filed with the local authority for record.
Special Type | Adjustable Conditions | Industry |
(1) Special timing | Annual national holidays, memorial days, the Labor Day and other holidays stipulated by the central competent authority should be accommodated to provide convenience to the lives of the public. | 1. Food and beverage manufacturing industry 2. Fuel wholesaling and other fuel retailing industries 3. Oil refinery industry |
(2) Special locations | The work locations are special (such as in the sea, in high mountains, tunnels or remote areas) with time-consuming transportation | 1. Water, electricity and gas industries 2. Oil refinery industry |
(3) Special characteristics | Workers perform their duties overseas, on ships, aircraft, or examination preparation areas or conduct annual maintenance. | 1. Manufacturing industry 2. Water, electricity and gas industries 3. Medicine and cosmetics retailing industry 4. Travel industry |
| Adjustment is made to accommodate weather, construction sequences or operating schedules. | 1. Oil refinery industry 2. Ready-mix concrete manufacturing industry 3. Basic steel industry | |
Adjustment is made to accommodate climate, marine weather, or shipping cargo operation | 1. Water, electricity and gas industries 2. Oil refinery industry 3. Refrigerated food manufacturing industry 4. Ice-making industry | |
(4) Special conditions | Adjustment is made to conduct irregular activities or meetings. | 1. Manufacturing industry 2. Design industry |
