Japanese employment law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Employment agreements
2 Conditions of employment
3 Discrimination
4 Contravention
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Employment agreements

Under the Civil Code, a contract in which one person performs services for another with compensation may be construed as any one of the following:

In an employment agreement (雇用契約, koyō keiyaku^?), the object is the completion of labor under the employing party's direction.
In an independent contractor agreement (請負契約, ukeoi keiyaku^?), the object is the completion of a specific task.
In a mandate agreement (委任契約, inin keiyaku^?), similar to a power of attorney in common law countries, one party performs designated tasks on the other party's behalf. These tasks are usually legal acts, but may be non-legal acts, in which case the agreement is referred to as a quasi-mandate (準委任, jun-inin^?).

Employment agreements are regulated by the Civil Code and by the Labor Standards Act (労働基準法, Rōdō-kijun-hō^?) of 1947.

[edit] Conditions of employment

Conditions of employment must be clearly set out in the employment agreement or in supplementary rules which are provided to the employee.

[edit] Term and termination

An employment agreement may have a fixed term or be unlimited in term. Fixed-term employment agreements are generally limited to three years (five years for certain designated fields). A fixed-term agreement, once renewed, is often construed as an unlimited-term agreement for legal purposes.

In an unlimited-term agreement, an employee is permitted to resign at any time, but an employer cannot fire an employee without cause that is reasonable and socially acceptable, a standard which is very difficult to meet in practice. This disparity in the rights of the two parties is closely tied to the lifetime employment concept which became common in Japan following World War II: employers are expected to cultivate their employees rather than fire them at the first sign of trouble.

The Labor Standards Act provides that if an employee is fired, notice must be provided at least thirty days in advance, or thirty days' pay must be provided in lieu of notice. Firing is specifically prohibited during:

Hospitalization of an employee following job-related illness or injury, and for 30 days afterward
Maternity leave of a female employee, and for 30 days afterward

[edit] Pay

Japan has minimum wage laws: the actual amount is based upon the local cost of living and therefore varies from region to region. In the Tokyo area, which has the highest minimum wage, the minimum wage is 719 yen per hour. [1]

Pay must generally be provided in full, in cash and directly to the employee, although employees may collectively agree to be paid in tangible items (LSA art. 24.1). Cash payments are usually made by electronic funds transfer. The maximum pay period is one month, which is the standard pay period throughout Japan, although bonuses and other supplemental payments may be made at greater intervals (LSA art. 24.2).

[edit] Working hours

Maximum full-time working hours in Japan are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week (LSA art. 32). If an employee works six to eight hours in a day, they are entitled to a 45-minute break; if an employee works eight hours in a day, they are entitled to a one-hour break (LSA art. 34.1). An employee is entitled to one holiday per week unless they otherwise receive four or more holidays within every period of four weeks.

Overtime pay must be provided for any work over eight hours per day, over 40 hours per week or on holidays. Overtime pay is governed by a collective agreement commonly known as a "36 agreement" (三六協定, sanroku kyōtei^?) after Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act. A 36 agreement must be sealed by the employer and either (a) a labor union consisting of a majority of the employees or (b) a representative elected by a majority of the employees, and provided to the local Labor Standards Inspection Office. Regulations provide that the overtime premium must be at least 25% for additional work on a workday, 35% for holiday work and an additional 25% for work late at night (usually defined as 10 PM to 5 AM).

[edit] Leave

The Labor Standards Act prescribes minimum periods of paid annual leave based on an employee's seniority. 10 days of annual leave must be allowed following the employee's first 6 months of service. The minimum amount of annual leave increases each year thereafter following a fixed schedule (LSA art. 39).

Several forms of unpaid leave are also provided by law, including maternity leave, child care leave, family care leave and nursing leave.

[edit] Discrimination

Article 4 of the Labor Standards Act (see References below) prohibits discrimination in pay based on gender. Subsequent legislation has also banned forms of disparate treatment which were previously used to skirt Article 4: for instance, women must be afforded the same hiring, job training, promotion opportunities and retirement plans as men.

Article 3 of the Labor Standards Act mentions ethnic, national and religious discrimination between employees but not ethnic, national and religious discrimination in hiring.

[edit] Contravention

Matters pertaining to contraventions of Japanese employment law are conducted under the Criminal Code of Japan^[1] and Inspectors of the Labor Standards Authority have the same rights of arrest and detention as National and Prefectual Police Officers.