1,524 firms paid 23.3 billion yen in back pay

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1,524 firms paid 23.3 billion yen in back pay

The number of companies that paid more than one million yen in back pay for overtime work following instructions from the Labor Standards Inspection Offices reached a record high of 1,524 in FY 2005. A total of 167,958 workers received 23.3 billion yen in their back pay.

Not only the number of corporations but the total amount of their payment exceeded that of the previous year, indicating that unpaid overtime work is still rampant.

According to a Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry survey published on October 2, the average amount of back pay was 15.3 million yen per company and 140,000 yen per employee.

One fifth of these companies paid more than 10 million yen. The largest amount that a single company paid was 2.3 billion yen in the manufacturing industry, followed by the finance and the advertising industry with 2.1 billion yen and the construction industry with 825 million yen.

In 2001, the ministry required employers to strictly check their employees' working hours as a result of the efforts made by the Japanese Communist Party together with workers. Since then, 5,161 companies have paid a total of 85.2 billion yen to 667,000 workers.
- Akahata, October 3, 2006