Resigning From a Taiwan Job: Notice for an Indefinite-Term Contract

An American product manager joined a Taipei company in February 2026 on an indefinite-term contract. By October, she has another offer, but her offer letter calls for 60 days' notice (an invented example). The new employer wants her to start in early November.

By mid-October, she has worked about eight months. Taiwan's Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) requires an employee ending an indefinite-term contract to give the employer advance notice based on continuous service. For her, the statutory period is 10 days (Article 15, paragraph 2; Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1). The 60-day clause remains a separate question under those two provisions.

The contract that carries the notice duty

Notice is mandatory under Article 15, paragraph 2. When an employee ends an indefinite-term contract (不定期契約), that paragraph says the employee must notify the employer in advance using the periods in Article 16, paragraph 1. The Act uses 應 (must), making advance notice a duty. What matters first, then, is whether the signed contract has a fixed term.

A fixed-term contract calls for a separate assessment. Article 15, paragraph 1 covers one specific case: a specific-work fixed-term contract (特定性定期契約) lasting more than three years. After three years have passed, the employee may terminate it but must give the employer 30 days' notice. That provision does not describe fixed-term contracts generally; the brackets below concern employees ending indefinite-term contracts.

How continuous service changes the period

When an employee ends an indefinite-term contract, Article 15, paragraph 2 imports the following periods from Article 16, paragraph 1. The bracket turns on continuous service (繼續工作).

Article 16, paragraph 1 opens with certain employer terminations. An employee who ends an indefinite-term contract uses the same periods because Article 15, paragraph 2 says so. It imports the periods, not every rule that follows them in Article 16.

HR's 60-day request raises a separate question about the offer letter. On these assumed facts, the product manager falls in the first bracket. She must give notice 10 days before leaving under the indefinite-term contract (Article 15, paragraph 2; Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1).

Near three months, one year or three years of service, confirm the dates before choosing a bracket (Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraphs 1–3). Before committing to an effective date in a resignation notice, compare the start date in the contract with payroll records and the proposed leaving date, especially if the employee is close to one of the three service thresholds. The two articles do not specify the precise measuring moment at a boundary. A break in employment or a move between related companies may also call for closer review of when continuous service began.

Keeping a record of when notice was given

Keeping a dated email or HR submission can help settle a later dispute about when notice was given. Article 15, paragraph 2 requires notice to the employer but prescribes no written form. State the proposed effective date. Keep any acknowledgment. For the product manager, that date should allow for the 10-day period tied to her assumed continuous service (Article 15, paragraph 2; Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1).

Under three months

Below three months of continuous service, Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1 provides no bracket. Article 15, paragraph 2 and Article 16, paragraph 1 give no period for shorter service. Nor do they say that an employee with less than three months may leave without notice. In that situation, the employee's contract, work rules and actual service history need separate review; these two provisions alone do not settle the answer.

Job-search leave and pay for the notice period

An employee who has received the employer's notice may take time off during working hours to seek another job. That leave is capped at two days of working time per week, with wages paid during it (Article 16, paragraph 2). When an employer ends a contract without giving the notice required by paragraph 1, the employer must pay wages for the notice period (Article 16, paragraph 3). Both provisions concern employer termination.

In an indefinite-term resignation, Article 15, paragraph 2 imports only the periods in Article 16, paragraph 1. It does not itself give the resigning worker the job-search leave in paragraph 2. Nor does the employer's payment duty in paragraph 3 become a matching debt owed by a worker who gives short notice. Those provisions do not settle what follows from insufficient employee notice.

The 60 days in the offer letter

Employees ending an indefinite-term contract measure statutory notice by the three brackets in the table (Article 15, paragraph 2; Article 16, paragraph 1). Whether a longer period in an offer letter, contract or work rules binds the employee is a question these two articles leave open. So is whether the company could claim damages from someone who leaves earlier. They neither declare such a clause void nor say that it must be obeyed.

Ask HR to identify the exact 60-day clause in the signed contract, offer letter or work rules, including which version of the rules it relies on. Severance, minimum-service terms, work permits and residence are separate matters. On the assumed indefinite-term facts, the product manager's statutory bracket is 10 days' notice (Article 15, paragraph 2; Article 16, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1). The company's longer term needs its own review.

What a Taiwan lawyer can do here

A Taiwan lawyer can read the contract, offer letter, work rules and the records that show your start date, and confirm whether the contract is indefinite-term and which bracket of Article 16, paragraph 1 your continuous service falls into. With the bracket settled, the lawyer can draft a resignation notice that states a clear effective date, and negotiate the leaving date if the company insists on its own longer period. If the company threatens a claim for breach of contract, the lawyer can review the clause it relies on and answer in writing. Where the table does not answer the question directly, as with service under three months or a fixed-term contract, the work starts with finding the notice and resignation clauses in your documents and reading what they require.

To go through your contract and dates with an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei, email Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan. Include the 60-day clause and records showing your continuous service.

Official sources

• Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), Article 15, Article 16
• Labor Standards Act, full text (whole Act last amended July 31, 2024)

Checked: October 16, 2026