Taipei Times
Date: Jan 11, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that passed their third reading yesterday have drawn mixed responses from academics, with some lauding a potentially greater flexibility in working hours and others expressing concerns over them aggravating overwork.

Asked to comment, National Chengchi University College of Law associate professor Lin Chia-ho (林佳和) said he could not approve of them, as it would further increase overtime in some sectors.

Lin questioned the need to amend Article 32 of the act, which conditionally raised the monthly overtime cap from 46 to 54 hours with the proviso that a worker must not put in more than 138 hours of overtime in three months.

Monthly overtime across all sectors last year and in 2015 averaged less than 40 hours, he said, citing Ministry of Labor statistics.    [FULL  STORY]