June 23, 2018

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Hatano Kimie on June 22 held a hearing with the Labor Ministry regarding a case in which Nippon Express dismissed a contract worker with the aim of evading a legal obligation concerning labor contracts.

The revised Labor Contract Law, which became effective in April 2013, requires an employer to accept fixed-term employees’ request for indefinite-term employment contracts if the workers have worked more than five years for the employer.

In reaction to the revision of the Labor Contract Law, Nippon Express changed its employment rules and set an upper limit of the period of employment contracts for fixed-term workers at up to five years.

The unfairly-dismissed contract worker is a 38-year-old man working at a Nippon Express distribution center in Kanagawa Prefecture. He began working there in July 2013 and his one-year employment contract has been renewed every year. However, the company notified him that he will be laid off on June 30.

In the hearing Hatano said that if the illegal act by the global company Nippon Express is left unchecked, other companies would follow suit.

Labor Ministry officials in reply said that they will make inquiries to Nippon Express about the issue.

The male worker said, “Many contingent workers who were unfairly discharged like me have no choice but to swallow it. I want the ministry to take some measures to protect non-regular workers from unfair dismissals.”