I’m going on a business trip for around a month to visit customers and attending exhibition.
I want time off the for the weekends in spend during my business trip, it is 8 days in total, but the company says no.
What does the labor law / government say about this? I can’t find any information regarding to this issue.
Good question, all I know is you won’t be working there long if you press it too much.
It doesn’t matter what the law says. What matters is what your company says. No means no.
Did they even give you a schedule of what you are supposed to be doing on the weekends of the business trip? I can understand them saying no if it’s an event where you have to be somewhere doing something on the weekend.
But you should get compensation or time off during the week for working weekends. Of course this it Taiwan where companies just expect employees to work overtime and employees do it.
Additional question - do you actually work for a Taiwanese company? If you don’t then you need a work permit to lodge a complaint. Or to work for that matter.
If u are working on those weekends, by that I mean: attending a trade show or visiting customers. Then your company will have to give you back those weekends. I doubt you will attend anything on a Sunday, so they will only give you back your Saturday.
But if you are simply “stuck” abroad on those weekends, waiting for your Monday’s meetings, then you won’t get anything.
Most taiwanese companies will reward you with a daily 1000~2000nt$ reward and of course you can pocket the daily expenses’ envelope.
Some Western companies might give you the day off following a long trip, a month is a long time for a business trip so probably a few days would be common. In Taiwan, you won’t get diddley squat from them in general.
How long have you been with the company? If it’s still your first year, you’ve yet to prove your chops, and asking for anything outside of what’s already been provided is going to be considered bad form. Maybe in time the possibility of concessions that you deem to be fair and reasonable could be requested, but that also depends on your relationship with your superior(s).
Amen to that 
Taiwanese staff probably just wouldnt have asked.
First year, by law, no vacations are given.
That means there is no obligation, you can of course request vacation time before signing a contract.
People this is not vacation time, its statutory holidays i.e. weekends. In translations I’ve done of HR manuals regulations are that you continue to observe work hours of the company while on business trips. That means weekends are your own time. Of course if you’re working for wankers they might try and tell you you have no personal time. They might also tell you you have to clean the toilets. How you respond to that is your own affair. Unfortunately most gutless local workers do what they’re told which is why Taiwanese companies are hell to work for.
It’s not just Taiwanese companies. It’s the way of the world in the era of global free market economies. For as long as I can remember (and I’m in my forties), in Australia unpaid overtime has been the norm. Twenty years ago, the average worker was doing ten hours a week unpaid. I’m not sure how many hours it is now but a recent article in the Australian media said that it was getting worse with AU$121 billion per year in unpaid work being done by Australian workers.
Australia and UK and US aren’t great when it comes to this, but at least you can get paid pretty well. The British company I worked for let you work at home or take a day or two off. The multinational I work for has different rules in different countries,
in Taiwan they pretty much follow Taiwan working culture, in British they give them a couple of days off and can work from home more, in Japan they work to death and in America they are working more and more days as the company cuts back on optional holidays. Meanwhile the chairman takes more and more stock options and waits to cash out.
I’m working for a local Taiwanese company. Been working in this company for around a year now. All I’m asking is compensation for the weekends during my business trip. I think it is VERY reasonable request. I want to know what the labor law says about this. Whether I want to enforce the labor law or not is another matter.
That’s what I thought. Unless you’ve got something very specific scheduled for the weekend, why even bother asking? If you have to go to a trade show, do that in the morning and then bugger off after lunch when the exhibitors are getting bored and tired anyway. If you ARE the exhibitor … well, not unreasonable for them the expect you to actually attend.
That’s what I thought. Unless you’ve got something very specific scheduled for the weekend, why even bother asking? If you have to go to a trade show, do that in the morning and then bugger off after lunch when the exhibitors are getting bored and tired anyway. If you ARE the exhibitor … well, not unreasonable for them the expect you to actually attend.[/quote]
That’s a good point; if you work in sales and marketing and travel overseas to trade shows obviously you work to the exhibition schedule. But there are certain cover-alls in the Labor Standards Law i.e. you have to take off one day in seven or 2 days in 14.
Weekend no, but if you are on business trip and back home in Taiwan is a holiday, then you can get it off.
But don’t ask me about the holidays on weekend, like CNY or 2/28/2015 (Yes 2/27 is bridge holiday, so you can get it off when you return, but Saturday not very likely)
I’ve been working for a large Taiwanese public company for about 7 months now as Sales and have regular travel around the world to attend exhibitions and client meetings. I recently spoke to the HR asking what the compensation is for all the non-working days I have been abroad. So far the tally is 20 days I have been abroad working or traveling on non-working days.
I understand they won’t be willing to pay those 20 days as overtime, so I suggested that for every 2 non-workdays I have been out of the country, they allow me to take 1 day paid leave. As it is my first year I officially do not have any paid vacation days.
The HR recently got back to me and said she checked with other Taiwanese companies and their policy is not to pay anything extra (no overtime pay and no paid time off), unless I am attending an exhibition on say a weekend and have photos to prove it. Traveling and other business commitments on non-working days are not compensated.
I have checked the Labor Standards Act and read replies to this post but still can’t find anything definitive which states what I am entitled to in this situation.
Anyone else have any similar experience? Or know what the law says I am entitled to? Thanks in advance for any help!
Can you define “non-working days”?
If you work on a Saturday or Sunday you can claim this back as additional off.
If you work on a day which is holiday in Taiwan, you can claim that day also off.
However, if you travel on a weekend (flight, train, etc…), there is no regulation.
Some companies compensate that with additional off, some won’t.
Edit:
The law states only that you should not work 6 consecutive days (new law) and working hours should not exceed 84 hours in 2 weeks. In theory you can claim paid overtime.
However, keep in mind that companies tend to: “if you don’t like it, you are free to find another job”