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Article

25 Nov 2019

Author:
The Mainichi Newspapers

Japan: Labour groups oppose draft guidelines over potential misuse of harassment provisions

"Fears in Japan over possible abuse of power harassment 'exemptions' in draft guidelines", 21 Nov 2019

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare presented a set of draft guidelines for the prevention of power harassment at workplaces in Japan to the Labor Policy Council on Nov. 20, including examples of cases that are considered not to constitute such harassment. Labor organizations, however, are opposing the move, saying the provisions could be abused by employers.

"There is a risk of those guidelines being abused by employers as a 'catalogue for making excuses,'" said Kumie Inoue, a senior official of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, commonly known as Rengo...

...Shinobu Wajima, a high-ranking official at the Japan Business Federation, better known as Keidanren,...hailed the draft guidelines, saying, "They are well organized and their content is appropriate."

The proposed guidelines...contained no major revisions from an initial outline of the draft released by the ministry on Oct. 21. The inclusion of case examples that are ineligible for power harassment recognition was apparently pushed through by companies and other employers against the will of labor representatives...

...Concerns have been raised that the proposed definition of power harassment was too narrow and could allow for broader interpretation, possibly resulting in employers and harassers exploiting the provisions in their excuses to evade responsibility.

Under the anti-sexual harassment guidelines that are already in place, there are no case examples for ineligible situations, and the proposed anti-power harassment guidelines mark the first time for such exemptions to be specified in anti-harassment rules in Japan.

The LLAJ [Labour Lawyers Association of Japan] and other organizations have called for the removal of those "disclaimers" over the past month, submitting their opinions and requests to that effect...