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Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) plans to raise the maximum fine for work hour violations to NT$200,000 ($6,766) from NT60,000 ($2,030).  The work hour violations apply to employers who breach their employees’ work hour limit of eight hours per day.  A proposed amendment will be made to the Labor Standards Act. This will then be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan by the end of March, 2011. 

The CLA’s move on work hour violations is due to recent deaths from overwork among Taiwanese employees. This is mainly among engineers in the Taiwanese electronics sector.

Taiwanese employees work an average of 41 hours a week.  This is lower than the hours worked in other Asian countries. For example, South Koreans and Singaporeans work an average of 44 to 45 hours per week. Nevertheless, the average hours worked in Taiwan are still higher than those in Europe. Employees in France, Germany and the UK, for instance, work between 27 and 32 hours per week.

The Taiwanese government is also considering regulations to hold employers or supervisors criminally responsible for work hour violations that result in employee deaths. This, however, is still preliminary. Local businesses are worried about the economic impact of this potential regulation. This could be difficult for businesses to determine their employees’ work scope, which is based on job designation, rather than on hours worked. The government has also not given a definition of “overwork” to employers.  Much uncertainty remains on this potential regulation.