Japan Labor Law Change in 2020

The Japan labor law change makes all employees receive the same benefits aside from salary and bonuses.

After months of waiting since the April 2020 law labor change in Japan, the government released two sites with proper information:

  1. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
  2. Japan Staffing Services Association (JASSA)

Labor Law Change Outlines Employee Treatment

Essentially, the labor law change protects fixed-term employees, part-time workers, and temporary (dispatched agency) workers from “black companies” (ブラック企業, burakku kigyō) or companies with bad reputations due to their terrible practices.

They will receive the same benefits indefinite-term employees enjoy. In other words, all those working for a company will receive the same commuting allowance, overtime allowance, special leave for weddings and funerals as well as access to the company’s cafeteria and employee lounge.

Base salaries, bonuses, and pay raises, however, are determined based on the employees’ skills and performance.

Exemptions Allowed by the Labor Law

There’s an asterisk in the Japan labor law change that allows a temporary worker agency to override it if they meet 3 criteria:

  1. They pay their temporary workers higher than the other workers in the company.
  2. A temporary worker’s skills were properly evaluated and reflected in wages.
  3. The treatment (not including wages) temporary agency workers receive is comparable to the permanent employees.

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