Labor Policy Keiichiro HAMAGUCHI

Chapter 2 Working Conditions Policy

Section 2 Working Time Policy

(1) Factory Law and regulations in pre-war era 1911 Factory Law set limit for women and minors at 12 hours (14 hours for more 15 years) and banned night work ILO Convention No.1 on Hours of Work required 8 workday, 48 workweek revised Factory Law set limit at 11 hours Shop Law set closing time Royal Decree on Limitation of Working Hours in Factories covered adult men.

(2) Labor Standards Law ILO Conventions on weekly rest or annual holiday adopted before war Labor Standards Law covered almost all workers. LSL introduced 8 workday and 48 workweek, 1 rest day per week, 6 paid annual leave. Unlimited overtime (except for women and minors) allowed, based on labor-management agreement (“Article 36 agreement”)

(3) Deregulation Offensive in 1950s Working time regulations in LSL were target from employers in 1950s. But breaking ILO standards was impossible.

(4) The Age of Reduction of Working Time High economic growth and labor shortage pushed working time reduction (2,432 hours in 1960 to 2,064 hours in 1975). Oil crisis stopped the move (around 2,100 hours in 1980s).

(a) Reduction in Legal Working Hours 1985 Study Group on Labor Standards Law Report recommended 45 workweek Maekawa Report advocated working time reduction to boost domestic demand revised LSL set 40 hours in principle, 46 hours temporarily, 48 hours for SME. In 1990, 44 hours temporarily, 46 hours for SME. In 1993, 40 hours for large companies, 44 hours for SME (with 1 year respite). In 1997, 40 workweek covered almost all companies.

(b) Other policy measures for reduction of working time 1982 Guidelines on Overtime set 15 hours per week, 50 hours per month without binding effect. Successive equal opportunity legislation deregulated upper limit for women revised LSL provided the guidelines without binding effect (15 per week, 45 per month, 360 per year). Systematic overtime was regarded as buffer for employment protection.

(5) The Age of Flexibility of Working Time 1947 LSL already set hours averaging scheme revised LSL introduced discretionary work scheme (similar to exemption) for 5 professional jobs revised LSL extended it to planning jobs. Employers demand white-collar exemption.