Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

Gov’t panel calls for deregulation of dismissal and mixed-medical services

A governmental panel on regulatory reform has decided that it will promote discussions to revise the rules on working hours and dismissals and expand mixed-medical services.

The Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform was established on January 23 as an advisory body to the prime minister with 15 members; 9 are researchers and executives of private companies such as Sumitomo Corporation.

In its second meeting on February15, the council determined to seek deregulation of 59 items in the four areas of health and medical services, energy and environment, employment, and creation of new businesses.

Items in the employment field include relaxation of restrictions on the use of agency workers such as easing the rules on the maximum period of employment and increasing the applicable job categories.

Regarding deregulation of working hours, the council will discuss a white-collar exemption system which imposes on white collar workers longer working hours without pay.

It also intends to introduce a new system of settling unfair dismissals by providing monetary compensation in which corporations will be allowed to not reinstate dismissed workers when they pay money to the workers, even though the court determines that the dismissal was invalid.

Introduction of the white-collar exemption and the new rule on dismissal was previously attempted under Abe’s first cabinet.

As for the medical field, the council proposed that a mixed-medical service system involving the combination of medical treatment covered by public health insurance and uninsured private practices should be applied to more medical treatments.

If the government eases regulations as the council suggests, it will likely make workers’ lives even more unstable and destroy the nation’s universal healthcare insurance system, ending up in accelerating the vicious cycle of deflationary recession.

Based on the council’s report, the Abe Cabinet will draw up its growth strategy, one of Abe’s key economic measures, by the end of June.