The idea of adding days off to compensate for the holidays that get “eaten up” by weekends on either the preceding or following working days was approved yesterday by the government and the private sector, a decision that will raise the total number of holiday and weekend days next year to 115.
The decision will allow compensatory leave for national holidays that fall on weekends, Deputy Minister of the Interior Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) said after attending a meeting between ministry officials, local governments and representatives from the business sector to discuss holiday rules.
The decision is pending legislative approval and would allow workers to have six public holidays of three days or longer next year.
The meeting also dismissed a proposal to designate nine days to the annual Lunar New Year break, because a longer vacation would increase operational costs for enterprises and would not necessarily benefit local tourism, Hsiao said.
Taiwan has 11 annual national holidays, but next year, only New Year’s Day on Jan. 1 and the Lunar New Year break in mid-February fall on weekdays.
That means the total number of weekends and holidays over the year will come to only 109, fewer than in many other countries and territories such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Late last month, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) gave his support to the idea of increasing the number of public days off, as part of the Cabinet’s efforts to give “the hard-working nation the simple pleasure” of time off.
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