Category Archives: Overtime

Top managers ordered to pay for employee’s death from overwork

May 26, 2010 in News, Overtime

The operator of major restaurant chain Nihonkai Shoya and its four top managers were ordered Tuesday to pay about 78.6 million yen in damages to the parents of an employee who the court recognized as having died of overwork in 2007. The decision by the Kyoto District Court was the first to find the top [...]

Labour Ministry: Wages fell 3.3% in FY2009

May 23, 2010 in News, Overtime, Wages

According to a report released today by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, wages in Japan fell 3.3% to 315,311 yen per month in fiscal 2009. This is the strongest drop seen since the ministry began issuing data in 1991, while 2009 was the third consecutive year in which average wages fell in Japan [...]

Foreign trainees easily exploited as bosses take advantage of system

February 15, 2010 in Immigration, News, Overtime, Trainees

The controversy should have heated up after last month’s ruling by the Kumamoto District Court, which found in favor of four female Chinese trainees who sued their employer and the agent that arranged for that employment. The trainees were awarded unpaid wages amounting to ¥12.8 million as well as damages to the tune of ¥4.4 [...]

Japan Wages Slump at Near-Record Pace of 6.1% as Bonuses Slide

February 5, 2010 in News, Overtime, Wages

Japan’s wages slumped at a near- record pace in December as employers pared workers’ bonuses, an indication that consumer spending is unlikely to drive the economic recovery. Monthly wages including overtime and bonuses slipped 6.1 percent from a year earlier to 549,259 yen ($5,056), the Labor Ministry said today in Tokyo. Paychecks slumped an unprecedented [...]

Foreigners win ¥17 million for trainee abuses

January 30, 2010 in Immigration, News, Overtime

The Kumamoto District Court awarded more than ¥17 million in damages Friday to four Chinese interns who were forced to work long hours for low wages in Kumamoto Prefecture. The court ordered that the union Plaspa Apparel, which arranged the trainee work for the four, to pay ¥4.4 million and that the actual employer, a [...]

McDonald’s told to pay overtime to manager

January 29, 2010 in News, Overtime

The Tokyo District Court ordered McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd. Monday to pay ¥7.55 million in overtime allowance and “additional pay” to a manager at one of its outlets. Presiding Judge Iwao Saito ruled that Hiroshi Takano, 46, who manages a McDonald’s outlet in Saitama Prefecture, does not qualify as a manager under the Labor [...]

34 foreign trainees in Japan died in FY 2008 of suspected overwork

June 23, 2009 in News, Overtime

Thirty-four foreign trainees died in Japan in fiscal 2008 through March this year, up 13 from the previous year to hit a record high, a survey by a government-linked body promoting a training program showed Monday. The leading causes of their deaths were brain and heart diseases, which claimed the lives of 16, while five [...]

Keidanren Tells Japan’s Salarymen to Work Less, Have More Kids

November 21, 2008 in Immigration, News, Overtime

Keidanren, Japan’s biggest business organization, is worried the nation’s workers aren’t having enough sex. The group urged its 1,632 member companies to start so- called family weeks that give employees more time for playing with the kids and having more children to reverse a declining birth rate. A survey by Japan’s Family Planning Association of [...]

Convenience stores, chain restaurants warned about unpaid overtime

September 10, 2008 in News, Overtime

Over 80 percent of managers at convenience stores and chain restaurants that had labor problems in the past are forced to work long hours without corresponding overtime pay, a government survey has found. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which conducted the survey, has issued a warning to convenience stores and chain restaurants to [...]

Standards set for ‘name-only’ store managers

September 10, 2008 in News, Overtime

The labor ministry on Tuesday signaled its intention to scrutinize companies that appoint workers as store managers to avoid paying overtime, while giving them little or no managerial authority. The practice is especially widespread in the restaurant and retail sectors where many so-called managers are required to work long hours. The Ministry of Health, Labor [...]