Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The newly passed amendment to the Labor Standards Act takes effect on Friday, a week earlier than

The newly passed amendment to the Labor Standards Act took effect on Friday after President Tsai Ing-wen signed it into law on Tuesday.(By Central News Agency)

Jan 1, 2017 as expected after President Tsai Ing-wen signed it into law on Tuesday.

The amendment stipulates that there are two days off for every seven days, one of which is an “official holiday” and the other is a “rest day.” The “official holiday” is a mandatory holiday, but the “rest day” means workers who need more income can opt to work on this day if the company offers them to work.

The new regulations about overtime pay will come into effect on Friday as well, stipulating that employees will be paid an hourly wage of 2.34 times the regular hourly wage if they work on a “rest day” for within two hours, and will be paid an hourly wage of 2.67 times from the third hour on. Working for more than two hours but less than four hours on a “rest day” will be calculated as working for four hours, working for between four and eight hours will be regarded as working for eight hours, and working for between 8 hours and 12 hours will be regarded as working for 12 hours, according to the new regulations.   [FULL  STORY]