March 4, 2016
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2016 March 2 - 8 [LABOR]
Labor Ministry finds unpaid overtime totals 14.2 billion yen in 2014 |
The number of workers who benefited from the government’s order in 2014 reached a ten-year high of 203,507, up 88,627 from the previous year. The amount workers obtained between 2001 and 2014 totaled over 230.3 billion yen in unpaid overtime.
The Japanese Communist Party has been working to wipe out this illegal practice of what amounts to wage theft. JCP lawmakers took up this issue in Diet meetings more than 300 times in the past four decades.
In 2000, the JCP submitted to the Diet a bill to oblige employers to check how many hours their workers worked, based on the recognition that the lack of such a legal obligation enables employers to pressure employees to report overtime less hours than they actually worked. Although the bill was not enacted, the JCP efforts led to a 2001 Labor Ministry notification which stipulates that employers have the responsibility to properly manage employees’ working hours.
As a measure to deter illegal corporate acts, the JCP in October 2013 proposed another bill to double companies’ payment of back wages for overtime. The party argues that currently, those companies which neglected to pay overtime wages will receive no penalties even if their illegal activities are verified by authorities and that they will be only required to make the back payment. This is why the practice of wage theft continues, the JCP says.
The Abe government is seeking to adversely revise the Labor Standards Law to relax working hour rules so that companies can work workers as long as they want. All trade unions harshly criticize this attempt as a move to legalize unpaid overtime.
Past related articles:
> Y12.3 billion paid to workers in back wages for overtime in 2013 [December 26, 2014]
> Y193 billion in back pay for overtime paid [December 4, 2012]
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