Newsletter
CLA NAMES SECTORS FOR EIGHT-WEEK FLEXITIME
Following last year's amendments to the Labor Standards Law (LSL), which introduced flexible working hours over eight-week periods, in April 2003 the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) des-ignated the entire manufacturing industry, and the sectors to which LSL Article 30-1 applies (mostly service industries), as the industries to which the eight-week flexible working hours would apply. Subsequently, the CLA designated in May a further seven sectors: construction, tour-bus transport, air transport, ports, postal services, telecommunications, and construction investment. In the above designated sectors, employers may introduce eight-week flexitime with the consent of their labor union or a la-bor-management meeting.
Eight-week flexitime means that an employer can flexibly arrange the 336 hours of normal working time within an eight-week period. However, normal working time on any one day may not exceed eight hours, and the total work-ing hours may not exceed 48 hours per week. In other words, within the limits defined by the legislation, employers need not pay overtime rates, and enterprises may adjust their human resources in accordance with peaks and troughs of demand; meanwhile the concentration of working hours also allows workers to avoid fragmentation of their time-off.