Article Content

Print

A worker over fifteen years old, but less than sixteen years old, shall be considered as a child worker.
No child worker and no worker less than eighteen years old shall be permitted to do work that is potentially dangerous or hazardous in nature.

No employer shall employ any person under the age of fifteen. This does not apply if the person has graduated from junior high school or the nature and environment of the work have been determined and authorized by the competent authority that no harm will result to the worker's mental and physical health. Provisions in child labor regulations shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the employee of the preceding paragraph.
The Central Competent Authority shall stipulate the determination criteria, review procedures, and other measures governing the complying matters for determining the nature and environment of the work that will not do any harm to the worker's mental and physical health stated in the first paragraph based on factors such as the worker's age, nature of work, and the length of compulsory education received. For persons under the age of fifteen providing labor service to a third party through others, or directly providing labor service to receive remuneration with no employment relationship, the provision stated in the previous paragraph and child labor protection regulations shall apply, mutatis mutandis.

Employer of workers who are less than eighteen years old shall keep the letters of consent from the legal guardians and age certificates of such workers on file.

Child workers' daily working hours shall not exceed eight hours, weekly working hours shall not exceed forty hours, and working on regular leave is not permitted.

No child worker shall be permitted to work between eight o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the following morning.

An employer shall not make his /her female worker perform her work between ten o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the following morning. However, with the consent of a labor union, or if there is no labor union in a business entity, with the approval of a labor-management conference, and the following requirements in each subparagraph are met, the preceding restrictions are not applied:
1. The necessary safety and health facilities are provided.
2. When there is no public transportation facilities available, transportation facilities are provided or dormitories for female workers are arranged.
For the necessary safety and health facilities referred to in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph, their standards shall be determined by the Central Competent Authority. However, the safety and health facilities set forth in an agreement between the employer and the female worker are better than requirements in the Act, the said agreement shall be controlling.
When a female worker is unable to work between ten o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the following morning due to health or other justifiable reasons, the employer shall not force her to work.
Due to the occurrence of an act of God, an accident, or an unexpected event, and so the employer has a necessity to make his/ her female worker perform her work between ten o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the following morning, the requirements in the Paragraph1 shall not be applied.
For those female workers who are pregnant or are feeding their babies, the proviso clause of Paragraph 1 and the preceding paragraph shall not be applied.

A female worker shall be granted maternity leave before and after childbirth for a combined period of eight weeks. In the case of a miscarriage after the first three months of pregnancy, the female worker shall be permitted to discontinue her work and shall be granted maternity leave for a period of four weeks.
If the female worker referred to in the preceding paragraph has been employed for more than six months, she shall be paid regular wages during the maternity leave, while if her period of service is less than six months, she shall be paid wages at half of the regular payment.

A female worker may apply to be transferred to less strenuous work during her pregnancy. The employer shall neither reject her application nor reduce her wage.

Where a female worker is required to breast-feed her baby of less than one year of age, the employer shall permit her to do so twice a day, each for thirty minutes, besides the break period set forth in Article 35.
The breast feeding time referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed as working time.