What is Japanese labour law ?

The Civil Code adopted on 27 April 1896 gives a basic definition of employment contracts. Labour laws must additionally meet constitutional demands by setting minimum labour standards.

the Labour Standards Law (LSL),the Trade Union Law (TUL) andthe Labour Relations Adjustment Law (LRAL).

The LSL regulates firstly working conditions and secondly the workplace safety and hygene.

The TUL guarantees the worker's right to organize and to bargain collectively, whereas labour management adjustments and means of dispute settlement are specified in the LRAL

The LSL was adopted on 7 April 1947 and last amended 30 September 1998.

The TUL was adopted on 1 June 1949 and last amended 12 November 1993.

The LRAL was adopted on 27 September 1946 and last amended 14 June 1988.

The acts apply to Japanese employees of the private sector, with the exception of seafarers, and may also include foreign workers possessing a visa with a work permit.

Concerning those employees who work in public owned enterprises, only the LSL is applicable.

Labour relations of public employees are governed mainly by special provisions according to the relevant category.

Labour legislation is often supplemented by ordinances, which are issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (prior to 6 January 2001, this role had been fulfilled by the Ministry of Labour) and the appropriate Labour Relations Commission.

The latter body consists of representatives coming equally from the workers'

Labour legislation also tends to be rather abstract and therefore often needs to be interpreted by ordinary courts, since there are no special labour courts in Japan, and by the Labour Relations Commission.

The second strongest legal norm is the collective agreement, which, in practice, part is, for the most, enterprise based, because it is mainly the enterprise trade union and the respective employer who draw up agreements.

Collective agreements affect primarily those workers of the firm who are trade union members. According to custom, they tend to be put in writing only as far as is legally required.

Further provisions of the agreement, which must of course be in line with the law, are often simply agreed to verbally.

The written part of the agreements might therefore be simple or vague.

This fact gives more importance to work rules, which stipulate common working conditions at the enterprise level

Any employer with more than 10 employees must draw them up in consultation with the trade union.

Work rules must not infringe upon the applying collective agreement.

Then, they fix the elements of the labour contracts within the company, independently of whether the individual worker is trade union member or not.

According to the amended Art. 15 of the LSL and its Enforcement Ordinance, contractual matters like wages, working hours and working conditions must be put in writing, when the labour contract is concluded. In practice, vague contract provisions are nevertheless preferred by the parties so as to have the contract always in line with the work rules and the collective agreement.

The texts (in English) of the Labour Standards Law (including amendments until 1995),Trade Union Law and Labour Relations Adjustment Law are available from NATLEX, the database of national labour, social security and related human rights legislation maintained by the ILO's International Labour Standards Department

Japanese employment practice is traditionally founded on lifetime employment. The employee usually remains with one company for his/her entire working life.

The employment period is thus not stipulated and the post is assured until mandatory retirement age, which is usually somewhere between 55 and 60 years.