Poll finds overtime work brings scant compensation

Staff writer, with CNA

Nearly a quarter (24.8 percent) of office workers do not receive any form of compensation for hours worked outside their regularly scheduled time, according to survey released yesterday by an online job broker.

The survey conducted by the online 1111 Job Bank found that employers of more than 65 percent of respondents have violated the Labor Standards Act’s (勞動基準法) rules governing overtime.

Only 35 percent of respondents did receive legally required overtime pay, the survey found, while 25 percent said overtime was paid occasionally, depending on the situation, and 15 percent said they only received overtime compensation for holidays.

On average, workers who did not receive the legally required overtime pay or paid time off worked 13 extra hours per month, the survey found.

Daniel Lee (李大華), vice president of 1111 Job Bank, said the Ministry of Labor has stepped up workplace inspections since last year, but problems of overwork remain unresolved.

Employers take advantage of legal loopholes by submitting falsified time sheets for payment of wages, he said, while official inspections are ineffective because of personnel shortages.

The ministry’s regulations guaranteeing two days off per week for all workers cannot prevent companies from forcing their employees to work overtime illegally, he said.

The job bank said the survey collected 1,144 valid responses, but it did not give a margin of error.