In an effort to prevent deaths from overwork, Taipei Department of Labour is putting tighter cap on the number of monthly work hours for some jobs including those in medical, engineering, and security industries.
The move was made in accordance with the revised Articled 84-1 of the Labour Standards Law, which states maximum work hours for each type of job to safeguard worker rights. The revised law, which will come into force in July, will oblige employers to limit their employee work hours, including overtime, to the maximum of 12 hours per day.
The maximum monthly work hours, meanwhile, are subsequently lowered depending on the nature of the occupation. The Taipei Department of Labourhas listed security and maintenance, medical health, and engineering as the three labour-intensive industries. Within the industries, occupations are categorized into high, medium, and low labour-intensiveness. The highest category includes engineers, Information Technology engineers, doctors, bodyguard, all of whom can work a maximum of 240 hours per month.
Medium category occupations are allowed 260 hours per month. These include certain government agency workers, such as technicians, department heads and ambulance drivers. Less stressful occupations, such as security guards and pumping station staff, can work up to 288 hours a month.
