A. I think that many workplaces are carrying out remote-work in order to prevent the risk of infection during commuting and the crowding of offices due to the declaration of a state of emergency in relation to the novel coronavirus disease. Even when performing remote-work, the employer is obliged to properly assess the working hours … Continue reading “Q. Is it possible to adopt a deemed working hour system when introducing a remote-work or work from home? ?”
Category: Laws
Q. Do work-related phone calls during lunchtime fall under work hours?
Q. I am required to pick up work-related phone calls in the office during lunch break. Do these phone calls fall under work hours? A. The working hours stipulated in Article 32 of the Labor Standards Act are the hours that can be evaluated objectively as the time when the actions of the worker are … Continue reading “Q. Do work-related phone calls during lunchtime fall under work hours?”
Annual salary system and overtime pay
If you hire an employee, of course you will be shown the amount of salary for that person, but in the case of foreign-affiliated companies, it is often shown on the basis of annual salary system. For example, ‘A Sales staff paid 7 million yen per year and overtime pay is included’. As hiring side, … Continue reading “Annual salary system and overtime pay”
Q. Isn’t travel time for business trips equivalent to working time?
A. Travel time for business trips is not treated as working time unless the employee is under the supervision or work instruction of a company. unless the employee is instructed to be available to carry out commands or do whatever work may be necessary for the company during the trips or has pre-arranged work to … Continue reading “Q. Isn’t travel time for business trips equivalent to working time?”
Rising Importance of Industrial Physicians (Company-Designated Medical Doctors)
The Work Style Reform and revisions to the Industry Safety and Health Act (ISHA) has become effective since this April, enhancing functions, duties, and responsibilities of industrial physicians (company-designated medical doctors) in maintaining the health of employees and the labour management. The employer must designate at least one doctor at the working place with 50 … Continue reading “Rising Importance of Industrial Physicians (Company-Designated Medical Doctors)”
Wage Regulations to Keep in Mind
Based on Article 24 of Labour Standards Act, wage must be paid in cash, in full amount and directly to the workers themselves. This excludes payment to parents or relatives. The important principles of the provisions of the Article are as follows: ① cash payments ② direct payments to the employees (to the bank accounts which … Continue reading “Wage Regulations to Keep in Mind”
About non-renewal of limited term employment contract (Yatoidome)
Is it always Ok not to renew a limited term employment contract when the term is expired? Employers usually choose ‘limited term contract’ for the purpose of workload adjustment. That is, when the business is booming, workforce is in scarce, but when business is declining, the workforce is sometimes redundant. So, it happens that employers … Continue reading “About non-renewal of limited term employment contract (Yatoidome)”
Long-Term Personal Injury and Sickness Leave in Work Rules
The employer is required to pay cautious attention to the employees scheduled to take long-term personal injury or sickness leave. In addition, the employer is not legally required to provide days of long-term injury and sickness leave, whether the employee is paid or unpaid during the leave, since it is not statutory obligation on the … Continue reading “Long-Term Personal Injury and Sickness Leave in Work Rules”
Sick Leave is not statutory leave in Japan
Sick leave is not staturoty leave in Japan. So most of companies in Japan do not have Sick Leave System.If an employee is absent due to illness, they need to use their annual paid leaves , or if they don’t want to use any paid leave for their illness, the amount of daily pay is … Continue reading “Sick Leave is not statutory leave in Japan”
How difficult is it to lay-off or dismiss workers for economic reasons?
Dismissal due to economic reasons also known as ‘redundancy’ is called ‘Seiri-Kaiko’ in Japan. Colloquially, it is often referred as ‘Risutora’ (Short for restructuring). Companies can sometimes have a situation where plant closing, retreat from the market, or by other reasons, reducing workforce is really necessary. In these cases, as in the ‘prohibition of non-rational … Continue reading “How difficult is it to lay-off or dismiss workers for economic reasons?”