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).
The Labor Standards Act of 1947 gives the right to paid annual leave based on an employee's seniority.
[5] The reform bills are also referred to as "The Revolution In The Way [People] Work" (働き方改革)[6] and is effective April 2019 (dates vary according to amendment and size of employer[7]), with violation subject to fines.
[7] The stated purpose includes restricting overtime hours, improving treatment of non-regular (such as temporary and part-time) workers and, more broadly, upping productivity of the Japanese economy.
[6] The bill consists of three main pillars: 1) an overtime cap of 100 hours a month, 2) "equal pay for equal work" to improve treatment of non-regular employees,[8] and 3) an exemption for "high-level" professionals from the overtime cap referred to in the first pillar.
[9] The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry defines the threshold for karōshi as greater than 80 hours of overtime a month.
[9] The "high-level" professionals who qualify for exemption from the overtime cap are those whose work require highly specific knowledge (such as financial traders, consultants, and product developers; professions are yet to be specified[7]) and earn annual incomes greater than JPY 10.75 million ($97,500).
[6] Karōshi and reforms on labour policy in Japan were further brought into urgent attention following the suicide of 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi on Christmas Day in 2015.
[15] The duty to bargain in good faith extends to managerial issues affecting employment conditions.
Japan has, unlike the majority of OECD countries, no right of workers to vote for members of a company board of directors.
The Japanese Constitution article 28 contains the basic right to strike, or take collective action in defence of workers' interests.
[18] There is also a requirement to notify an employer 10 days in advance before a strike in "essential" services under the Labour Relations Adjustment Act, article 37(1).
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 Labour Standards Act of 1947 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 ..." Article 7 of the Trade Union Act of 1949 prohibits discrimination against people who join or attempt to join a union, or who participate in union activities.
The Labour Standards Act of 1947 article 14 states a fixed-term contract's maximum duration is three years, but there is no limit on renewals or any reason required.
Until the Worker Dispatching Act of 1986, agency work was strictly controlled and limited to a number of sectors.
However, reinstatement is rare and compensation is the normal remedy under the Japanese Civil Code, articles 546 and 709.