or both, and the employer is supposed to repay owed wages. Forty-two sectors are under minimum wage regulation. During the year, the government did not include any new industrial sectors under the minimum wage regulation. The government determined the minimum wage through analyzing workers’ cost and standard of living, the cost of production in the sector, productivity and the price of goods, inflation, type of work, and associated risk factors. Despite a labor law provision to revise the minimum wage every five years, wages in many sectors have long remained unchanged. Wages received little attention in sectors without strong trade unions or labor organizations. Following a 17-day strike on August 27, the prime minister declared an increased daily minimum wage for tea sector workers. By law a standard workday is eight hours. A standard workweek is 48 hours, but it may be extended to 60 hours, subject to payment of an overtime allowance double the basic wage. Overtime may not be compulsory. Workers must have one hour of rest if they work for more than six hours a day, or a half hour of rest for more than five hours’ work per day. The law states every worker should be allowed at least 11 festival holidays with full wages in a year, fixed by the employer in consultation with the collective bargaining agent, if any. Factory workers were supposed to receive one day off every week. Shop workers received one-and-ahalf days off per week. The labor law did not specify a penalty for forced overtime or failing to pay overtime wages. Occupational Safety and Health: The law establishes occupational safety and health (OSH) standards, and amendments to the law created mandatory worker safety committees. The labor law specified sanctions when failure to comply caused harm. For loss of life, violators are subject to a four-year jail term, a fine, or both; for serious injury, a two-year jail term, a fine, or both; and for injury or danger, violators face a six-month jail term, a fine, or both. Penalties for violations of OSH laws were commensurate with those for crimes such as negligence. Labor law implementing rules outline the process for forming OSH committees in factories, and the government reported approximately 2,175 safety committees had been formed since 2018. The committees included both management and workers nominated by the collective bargaining agreement or, in absence of an agreement, worker representatives of the factory’s participation committee. Where there is no union or participation committee, the DOL is responsible for arranging Page 57