Legal Protection of Overtime Workers’ Nutritional Rights under Indonesian Labor Law

This study aimed to analyze the legal issues arising from employers’ obligations to provide food and beverages containing 1,400 kilocalories to overtime workers in Indonesia and the legal consequences of non-compliance. Previous worker law studies were primarily focused on overtime wages and other economic rights. Meanwhile, limited attention was given to overtime workers’ nutritional rights and the implementation of Article 29 of Government Regulation No. 35 of 2021. The implementation of Article 29 raised normative problems due to the absence of clear standards regarding the 1,400 kilocalorie requirement and weak supervisory mechanisms, creating legal uncertainty in the enforcement. Normative legal study was adopted using statutory and conceptual approaches. Legal materials consisted of legislation, literature, and scholarly journals analyzed descriptively and evaluatively. The results showed that providing food and beverages totaling 1,400 kilocalories constituted a mandatory requirement of overtime work and wages. This obligation could not be replaced with monetary compensation because workers’ health and energy were maintained during overtime work. Employers who failed to fulfil the obligation faced administrative sanctions and rights disputes before the Industrial Relations Court. Therefore, this study contributed to worker law scholarship by positioning workers’ nutritional rights as an integral component of occupational health protection and worker welfare. The novelty was in the analysis of the normative problems in implementing Article 29 of Government Regulation No. 35 of 2021 and the legal consequences arising from non-compliance with overtime workers’ nutritional rights.