After Limiting Overtime, Japan Embarks on a Big Labor Reform: Banning Employees From Working for 48 Consecutive Days

The country of “karoshi,” or “death from overwork,” wants to reduce the amount of consecutive work days allowed under law from 48 to 14 days.

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Japan is taking steps to limit the extremely long periods of continuous work that some employees currently endure. In other words, it aims to establish more reasonable limits on consecutive work days. The country’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has recently taken action to ensure employers can’t require employees to work 14 or more days in a row. While this may still seem like a lot, it’s important to note that the current legal limit is much higher. With proper organization, companies can legally require a worker in Japan to work up to 48 consecutive days.

The primary goal of this initiative is to improve the mental health of workers.

What’s changing? Japan wants to make working conditions in the country more manageable. To achieve this, it’s addressing the issue of excessively long consecutive workdays, which often occur without days off, weekends, and public holidays.

The proposed changes will reduce the legal limit for consecutive working days from 48 to 14. According to The Asahi Shimbun, any work beyond 13 consecutive days would be considered a violation of the new law.

How does Japan want to proceed? Japanese workers still need to wait to see if changes are approved. For the time being, a committee of experts convened by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has proposed discussing amendments to the Labor Standards Law. The proposal has garnered significant attention, with coverage from major media outlets in the country, including Nikkei, Kyodo, and Asahi. They all report that the government is considering revising the organizational system and has the 14-day proposal on the table.

Experts have also suggested various ideas regarding labor issues, such as simplifying the system for calculating overtime and extending regulatory coverage to domestic workers. The current objective is to compile these proposals into a report, which, if all goes well, will be ready by March. However, it’ll take longer for the Japanese government to implement any changes. These revisions aren’t expected to occur until 2026 because authorities will need to discuss them first with representatives from both workers and management.

What’s the current situation? Currently, the Japanese law allows up to 48 consecutive working days. It also mandates that companies must provide their employees with at least one day off per week. However, it grants some flexibility in organizing time off. Specifically, it allows companies to offer four days off every four weeks.

What this means is that if the employee’s time off is arranged in a specific way, such as having a four-day rest period followed by a long working period and then another four days off, the law technically allows the work period to extend up to 48 days. The Japan Times points out that unions and management can also agree on what’s known as the “36 Agreement.” In practice, this agreement allows workers to work even on public holidays.

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What are the changes for? The Japanese government isn’t only considering the proposal from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. It also has access to data indicating that working for 14 consecutive days without a break undermines workers’ well-being. According to a study, continuous working periods can lead to higher stress levels compared to accumulating more than 120 hours of overtime in a single month. Additionally, not taking breaks has significant consequences and contributes to psychological stress and disorders that even qualify for workers’ compensation.

The statistics are telling. In 2023, there were 1,023 claims for compensation related to stress-induced mental disorders and heart disease in the workplace. This high number is especially noteworthy for the trend it represents. While the number of approved claims had declined over the years, it has recently risen again. In fact, the 1,023 claims in 2023 mark an increase of 220 compared to the previous year.

Is this a new measure? Japan has a history of making efforts to improve workers’ conditions. One area of focus has been setting limits on overtime work, both annually and monthly. For instance, truck drivers and hospital doctors have had to adhere to specific limits for several months. They’re capped at 960 hours of overtime per year, while construction workers are limited to 720 hours.

Japan’s attempts to regulate overtime date back to 2019, when the labor system reform law was enacted. However, for five years, certain sectors facing skilled labor shortages were exempt from these new limitations. Government studies even indicate that a significant percentage of doctors were exceeding the newly established overtime cap. This is no longer the case.

Although Japan doesn’t top the OECD and World Economic Forum lists for average hours worked, overwork remains a significant issue in the country. There’s even a word for death from overwork: “karoshi.” In 2015, the Japanese government reported more than 2,300 victims of karoshi. Additionally, according to the latest data from Statista, the number of work-related suicides was roughly 2,900 in 2023.

Image | Alex Rainer  | Erica Leong

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