Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 11 - 17 [LABOR]

PM’s panel will propose introduction of white-collar exemption

A subcommittee of Prime Minister Abe’s Industrial Competitiveness Council on December 10 decided to propose that the government enable corporations to work their workers for as many hours as needed without having to pay additional compensation.

It states that under a new system it proposes employers can conclude with their employees individually an employment contract in which wages will be paid by mutual agreement of both parties, regardless of actual time worked. This will help companies reduce their labor costs by not having to pay for overtime and imposing unpaid overtime on workers.

The proposal also indicates that the system will be applied to specialized knowledge workers whose annual income is more than 10 million yen. However, once the system is introduced, it will eventually be used to cover all workers, Akahata says.

The subcommittee in the proposal called on the government to seek an all-out introduction of this new system from next autumn following a trial introduction at national strategic special economic zones during this fiscal year ending March 2014.