Japanese employment law

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[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:

an employment agreement (雇用契約, koyō keiyaku^?) where the object is the completion of labor under the employing party's direction.
an independent contractor agreement (請負契約, ukeoi keiyaku^?) where the object is the completion of a specific task.
a mandate agreement (委任契約, inin keiyaku^?) where, similar to 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^?).

Generally speaking, employment agreements are regulated by the Civil Code and by Labor Standards Law (労働基準法, Rōdō-kijun-hō^?).

[edit] Prohibiitng Discrimination

Article 4 of Labor Standards Law prohibits discrimination in pay based on gender: "An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment of a woman as compared with a man with respect to wages by reason of the worker being a woman." Subsequent legislation has also banned forms of disparate treatment which were previously used to skirt this stipulation. For instance, women must be afforded the same hiring, job training, promotion opportunities and retirement plans as men.

Article 3 of Labor Standards Law prohibits ethnic, national and religious discrimination by employers in regards to work conditions: "An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment with respect to wages, working hours or other working conditions by reason of the nationality, creed or social status of any worker..."