Lower house passes bill to shorten work hours for those with kids under 3

Wednesday 17th June, 06:48 AM JST

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minello7 at 01:04 PM JST - 17th June

Politicians the world over ,do not get the point.They live in a fantasy world.Do they know how much it takes to look after 1 child for 18 years. Mothers never used to have to go out to work,her job was more than full time looking after the family.But families now cannot survive without the mothers wages. So politicians,and especially here in Japan,ask the mothers before you go making laws. Here are examples,where you can help,free medical and dental treatment for pregnant mothers and all children up to reaching the age of 18. Education to be provided to a high standard free to all children until finishing high school.University eduction to be subsidised through a repayable grant system,so that all children get the chance of a quality education. To much presure is on the families of today,remove some of those presures and then you might see a population growth. This law you have just passed is useless,it will do nothing accept put more pressure and stress on the employee,whether the father or mother or both are working. As parents we try to do our best,so should politicians, Remember you were elected by the people,to work for the good of the people. minello7
tkoind2 at 02:49 PM JST - 17th June

This is a great idea if it has real enforcement behind it. But the truth is that Japan needs to implement wide scale work life balance laws that elminate unpaid OT, enforce laws that protect people with kids and pass laws that improve the number of days off that people have.

Someone wrote that industry must, in the end, support humanity. But the reality is that it does not and never has. It is time we changed that. And labor laws with powerful enforcement teeth are the only way to achieve that.
Coolasapool at 02:49 PM JST - 17th June

wont happen in a million years.. work less, looks like you`re slacking, so no job for you. thats the way companies will view it.
Mittsu at 03:10 PM JST - 17th June

JUst like current laws on working hours and vacation, this will not work until there is a social/mental change in Japanese people.
proxy at 03:31 PM JST - 17th June

I don't think the working hours are the problem, it is the kindergarten and school activities. I swear I have to drag by butt to some event more than half the weekends.
kirakira25 at 04:35 PM JST - 17th June

Employers that violate the revised law would receive instructions or warnings from prefectural labor bureaus and their names would be made public if they ignore the instructions.

Whoa! That'll keep them in check - NOT! These bills are all great in theory - in practice it gives comapneis one mroe reason not to employ motehrs, or give them drossy jobs, or just ingnore the law altogether.
kirakira25 at 04:36 PM JST - 17th June

Besides which - kids under 3 are not a problem - daycare centres are excellent and not expensive (if you can get into one). the problems start onmce you are in kindergarten with ridiculous pick up times, heavy "PTA" demands and kindergarten functions every bloody week - 3-6 is when it is most hard to be working.
WMD at 08:36 PM JST - 17th June

Well, you'd have to be an absolute moron to work for a japanese company. They totally ignore the labor laws and are just interested in working the work units to death. Then they will bring in fresh units. And the units themselves are so cowered and demasculated that they never complain that their lives are taken away by the company. And unions are just a joke.
usaexpat at 11:49 PM JST - 17th June

Something logical out of the government, I'm in shock. That said the key will be whether companies follow the rule or engage in intimidation against those who try to use this benefit.
Betting at 01:01 AM JST - 18th June

It will be interesting to see if there are any enforceable penalties to allow the bill to be effective (I believe the equality law when it was originally passed, and maybe even still today, had no effective penalties attatched to it for companies that wouldn't comply).

And it will be just as interesting to see if it has any effect on the hiring of new employees in the future.
ANOTSUSAGAMI at 01:37 AM JST - 18th June

This is dumb. They'll just not hire people with small children. If the government truly wanted to help, they would make unpaid overtime illegal, punishable by 4x the overtime rate for every unpaid hour. They would also have to make laws that protect those who blow the whistle on such abuse. Like a year mandatory jail time for any unjust retalitory action like firing people who stand up to this. It even makes sense in a way the politicians could get behind: More income for workers means more tax revenue. Companies should realize that overworked, tired employees are less productive, waste more resources with sloppy work, and increase company liability by being more accident prone. The system is too messed up. 2 workers from Toyota died from overwork last year, 500+ hours overtime a month unpaid. Each died within months of each other. Each time Toyota bowed and said they would try to monitor health more carefully then turned right around and continued doing the same thing. If that happened in America, Toyota would be finished. Here they just take it, shrug and say "shoganai."
motytrah at 04:44 AM JST - 18th June

In the US you'd get a class action lawsuit. The thing about unpaid OT is it's fairly easy prove these days because you have work product neatly time stamped by the computer. Office workers make phone calls, send email, etc. It's all very easy to see what the real hours are. Even in low wage jobs, it's easy to track. Wal-Mart has lost law suits in just about every state for unpaid hours. Every time it was easy to track because the cash registered provided a neat and tidy audit trail.

If the gov't wants to make the law meaningful they should allow a class lawsuit.

Speaking of Gov't, that's most likely who'll get to take advantage of the new law. Gov't employees.
DeepAir65 at 07:19 AM JST - 18th June

nice idea but like the current laws it is toothless. Enforce the laws you have - how about a raise in corporation tax for companies that do not comply?
Vagante at 01:51 PM JST - 19th June

This legislation is another piecemeal measure that does not address the basic problem. I'm sure many Japanese are ashamed of their politicians. This country deserves better.
Juzetto at 05:07 PM JST - 1st July

Things are slowly changing, it seems. However, it might take an eternity in this country for people to understand that WORK is not life. FAMILY is life. I used to date a really warm-hearted and clever Japanese guy. When he popped the question, I decided to say no. My reason: he was working superhuman hours, I mean literally until 3am sometimes. I was not going to be one of those wives who need to show a picture of their dad to her kids so that they would not forget his face, my need for him not even considered.