FOCUS: Japan’s Work-Style Reform Faces Concerns over Backsliding

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)–The administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has started discussing a possible easing of working-hour regulations, raising concerns among labor officials that work-style reforms introduced in recent years could be rolled back, with employees forced to work longer hours. A decade has passed since the shocking suicide of a young female employee at leading advertising agency Dentsu Inc., a death attributed to overwork that helped spur debate on labor reform in Japan. Her mother is calling for the creation of a society that does not cost workers their lives and is closely watching how the deregulation discussions will unfold. Trigger for Overtime Regulations In December last year, shortly before the 10th anniversary of her daughter’s death, 63-year-old Yukimi Takahashi held a tearful news conference in Tokyo, calling for stronger efforts to prevent deaths caused by overwork. “I want you to push work-style reform further and make this a country where everyone can live with hope,” she said. Her daughter, Matsuri, was a 24-year-old new employee at Dentsu when she took her own life on Christmas Day 2015. She had developed depression after enduring extremely long working hours and possible workplace harassment. Maturi Takahashi had continued working far beyond the limits set under a labor-management agreement, putting in around 105 hours of overtime in some months. In a post on Twitter, now known as X, she wrote, “Spending 20 hours a day at the company, I lose track of what I’m living for.” Her death was officially recognized as work-related and later led to a criminal case. In October 2017, Tokyo Summary Court fined Dentsu 500,000 yen for violating the Labor Standards Act. The ruling later became final. The death of the promising young employee from overwork, known as “karoshi,” sent shock waves through Japanese society. In a policy speech before the Diet, Japan’s parliament, in January 2017, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared, “With a firm resolve never to allow such a tragedy to occur again, we will endeavor to correct long working hours.” In June 2018, the Diet enacted work-style reform legislation, with curbing excessive working hours one of its central pillars. As a general rule, overtime was capped at 45 hours per month and 360 hours per year. Even under special labor-management agreements, overtime was limited to less than 100 hours per month and no more than 720 hours per year. These provisions marked the first time that penalties for overtime violations had been explicitly established under the Labor Standards Act. Endless Karoshi Cases With the revised law in force, overtime caps were introduced in phases, beginning with large companies. Construction workers, drivers, doctors and others, who had been granted a special five-year grace period, became subject to the rules from fiscal 2024. Even so, deaths from overwork have not disappeared. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 1,304 cases of overwork-related workplace accidents, including deaths, suicides and illnesses, were officially recognized in fiscal 2024, marking the highest annual total on record. “As families of victims, we have been campaigning to ensure that no one else has to endure what we went through, but deaths from overwork have not declined,” the Dentsu worker’s mother said at the news conference. “It’s heartbreaking beyond words.” Labor-Management Conflict Last October, Prime Minister Takaichi instructed government officials to examine the possibility of relaxing regulations on working hours. In subsequent discussions at a labor ministry advisory panel, several employer representatives called for expanding the range of jobs covered by the discretionary labor system. Under the discretionary labor system, employees in certain specialized or planning-related occupations are paid on the assumption that they have worked a predetermined number of hours, regardless of the actual time spent on the job. The system has been promoted as a way to support the “diverse and flexible work styles” envisioned under the government’s work-style reform initiative, while also enabling workers to make fuller use of their abilities. Representatives of workers, however, have voiced concern that expanding the system could lead to long working hours and should therefore be approached with great caution. At a time when Japan’s declining population is contributing to labor shortages, the government faces the difficult task of holding in-depth discussions while not losing sight of the feelings of karoshi victims’ families and the lessons learned from past cases. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]