Tag - labor-laws

 
 

LABOR LAWS

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 26, 2017
Japanese need to take more leave, starting with when beloved pets pass
A recent survey corroborates the stereotype many folks have of the Japanese worker: In short, their work is endless and breaks are few and far between.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Feb 23, 2017
In case you missed them: a year of responses to Community stories, part 1
The first in a series of selections of unpublished letters about Community stories from the year just passed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 29, 2017
Tokyo court rulings chip away at labor unions' right to free speech
Workers sued for millions of yen over protests outside the company that fired them take their case to the Supreme Court.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 25, 2017
Education in Japan in 2016: new solutions and age-old problems, from teaching English to bullying
With schools well into their final term and the university academic year already winding down it's time to reflect on the most significant events in Japanese education this past year.
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Dec 23, 2016
Overwork deaths put spotlight on Japan's 'black companies'
The Japanese have no clear term to describe the concept of work-life balance, but they do have one to describe the notion of dying for your company: karoshi.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016
'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs
I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 20, 2016
When it comes to qualifying for paid leave in Japan, continuous employment matters most
A reader writes to Lifelines with yet another question about a perennial topic of concern, paid leave.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2016
Record 5,803 foreign trainees went missing in Japan last year
Observers say this is another sign that the technical intern program — long criticized by rights groups at home and abroad as akin to slavery — is seriously flawed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 26, 2016
Ministry eyes Scandinavian plan to boost paternity leave and keep women working
A panel mulls including a quota system in a two-year parental leave plan that would require paternity leave to join.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 21, 2016
Lower House committee passes bill to shake up Japan's foreign trainee program
The bill is intended to shake up a state-sponsored foreign traineeship program slammed by critics as akin to modern slavery.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 7, 2016
1 in 4 firms in Japan say workers log over 80 overtime hours a month
The nation's first white paper on “karoshi” finds nearly a quarter of companies have employees that are seriously overworked.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 18, 2016
'Same work, same pay' principle doesn't stop at 60
Recently, the Tokyo Public Law Office has seen a surge in inquiries similar to the following:
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Aug 21, 2016
The flip side of coveted public-sector jobs in Japan: fewer rights
Laws restrict government workers' constitutional rights to organize, bargain and take collective action.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jul 24, 2016
A week’s worth of questions about paid leave
This month, a week of questions about paid leave. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the issue, and their answers.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2016
Japan short of 'minimum' standards on human trafficking: U.S. State Department
The U.S. State Department on Friday credited Japan with making "modestly increased" efforts against human trafficking in 2015, including the identification of some labor-trafficking victims for the first time in two decades.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jun 26, 2016
'Same work, same pay' goal may spark a race to the bottom
Without details on how to bridge the chasm that divides irregular and regular workers, PM Abe's target is hot air.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2016
Japan's dispatched ALTs struggle without a safety net
In late March, 65 English assistant language teachers, or ALTs, effectively lost their jobs after dispatch agency Interac lost a contract with the Sapporo Board of Education.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 31, 2016
Study faults Japan for inaction on modern-day slavery
Almost 46 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery, two-thirds of them in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a study released Tuesday.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan