Labor Policy

1. Labor Policy Keiichiro HAMAGUCHI

2. Chapter 4 Gender Policy

3. Section 2 Reconciliation of Professional and Family Life

4. (1) Child Care Leave and Family Care Leave

5. (a) Child Care Leave • 1972 Working Women’s Welfare Law provided child care leave for only women as an endeavor obligation. • 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law maintained this gender bias. • Liberal Democratic Party initiated binding law but failed in 1980. • 1965 ILO Recommendation No.123 on Women with Family Responsibilities was not exception.

6. 1981 ILO Convention No.156 on Equality for Workers with Family Responsibilities applied both sex. • Prime mover was a decline in birth rate of Japanese women (1.57 in 1989). • 1991 Child Care Leave Law established right to child care leave (up to 1 year old) for both sex excluding fixed-term workers. • 1994 Childcare Leave Benefits are paid to workers who take childcare leave under 1 (benefit rate: 25%, up to 40% in 2000).

7. (b) Family Care Leave • 1995 revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law established right to family care leave (up to 3 months). • Family care: taking care of a subject family member (spouse, parent, child, or parent of a spouse) in injury, sickness or disability. • 1998 Family Care Leave Benefits

8. (c) Limitation on Overtime and Night-work • 1997 revised Labor Standards Law abolished protection for women. • Trade unions demanded protection from overtime and night work for both sex with family responsibility. • 1998 and 2001 revised CCFCLL provided exemption or limitation upon request (overtime limit: 24 hours per month, 150 hours per year). • ILO Convention No.171 on Night Work adopted in 1990

9. (d) Recent Development • 2004 revised CCFCLL provided 5 days leave to take care of a sick child. • 2004 revised CCFCLL extended rights to child care and family care leave to certain types of fixed-term workers.

10. (2) Part-time Work • Part-time workers increased in women because of reconciliation of work and life. • Opposition parties proposed ban on discrimination against part-timers. • 1993 Part-time workers Law had no provision on discrimination, only “considering the balance with regular workers.”

11. 10 years to define “balance with regular workers”. • 2002 Study Group report recommended “balanced treatment” of pat-time workers. • 2003 Guidelines on part-time workers provided “balanced treatment” principle. • 1994 ILO Convention No.175 on Part-Time Work required same protection and wage for part-time workers as comparable full-time workers.

12. Japanese “Paato-Taimaa” includes full-time workers called as “Paato”. • 2007 revised Part-Time Work Law prohibited discrimination against part-timers equivalent to ordinary workers. • Very few part-timers meet the requirement. • On other types of part-timers, employers are required to only endeavor to consider the balance with ordinary workers.