Nantou County Magistrate Lin Ming-chen has reportedly directed local officials to find ways to circumvent new labor regulations concerning workweek hours and overtime pay. Also on Tuesday, the central government said it would continue "robust communication" regarding the laws. However, the county's labor and social affairs commissioner Lin Chun-wu said it would be impossible for a local government to not abide by central government laws. He said that even if the local government were to defy central government laws and not penalize establishments that violated labor laws, local labor inspectors, who were aligned with the central government, would issue fines nonetheless. On Tuesday, Premier Lin Chuan said the central government would continue "robust communication" to clarify details of the new labor amendments.

Source: The China Post March 14, 2017 03:11 UTC