Japanese employment law - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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 where the object is the completion of labor under the employing party's direction.
an where the object is the completion of a specific task.
a where, similar to power of attorney
Power of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...

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 .

Employment agreements are regulated by the Civil Code and by the . (The JETRO reference below covers this subject.) Some general guidelines follow—some items apply only to companies with ten or more employees:

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.

Term and termination

A fixed-term employment contract is generally limited to one year (there are some exceptions). For tenured staff, the term is not specified (but of course retirement age is usually stated).

An employee is permitted to resign at any time (usually two weeks notice is required), but an employer that tries to fire an employee without rational, reasonable, and socially-acceptable cause may lose an abusive-dismissal court case.

(Contract non-renewals may be a different matter; but if the contract is a full-year contract, and has been renewed at least once, then compensation—typically one month's pay for each year worked—is often negotiated).

The Labor Standards Act

Labor Standards Act of 1947

The is a Japanese law. It was enacted on 7 April, 1947 to govern working conditions in Japan. According to Article 1 of the Act, its goal is to ensure that "Working conditions shall be those which should meet the needs of workers who live lives worthy of human beings."- The Potsdam Declaration :As...

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:

Maternity leave of a female employee, and for 30 days afterward.

Hospitalization of an employee following job-related illness or injury, and for 30 days afterward.

(An employee who plans to contest dismissal should say so, demand that the reason be provided in writing, and should not accept the thirty days' pay in lieu of notice—as this may be construed as accepting dismissal.)

Pay

Japan has minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

laws: the actual amount is based upon the local cost of living and therefore varies from region to region (see links below).

Pay must generally be provided in full, in cash, and paid directly to the employee on or by a specified day of the month (as per the contract).

Cash payments are usually made by electronic funds transfer

Electronic funds transfer

Electronic funds transfer is the electronic exchange or transfer of money from one account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, through computer-based systems....

.
The maximum pay period is one month, which is the standard pay period throughout Japan, although bonuses and other supplemental payments such as commuter allowance may be paid at longer intervals.

Working hours

Maximum full-time working hours in Japan are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week.

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. 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. 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).

Despite the fact overtime pay is required by law, Japanese companies have been known to take employees to court over employees' requests for overtime or other legitimate compensation.

Leave

The Labor Standards Act

Labor Standards Act of 1947

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 (as per the contract).

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

Prohibiting Discrimination

Article 4 of the Labor Standards Act

Labor Standards Act of 1947

prohibits discrimination in pay based on gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

: "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. Despite the law, it is reported that the disparity in pay and in promotion between men and women is one of the highest of the so-called advanced countries.

Article 3 of the Labor Standards Act

Labor Standards Act of 1947

prohibits ethnic, national and religious discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

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..."

External links

Law of Japan#Employment law

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Employment Agreements

Conditions of employment

Term and termination

Pay

Working hours

Leave

Prohibiting Discrimination

See also

External links