"「休業支援金」がもらえない、会社が労働者に協力せず　「制度改めて」学生バイトの訴え", 25 Sep 2020

[Excerpt translation from Japanese to English provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.]

Part-time workers who lost their jobs due to the economic impact of Covid-19 are asking employers to provide paid leave or take measures that would allow them to receive government subsidies, which were introduced to help employees affected by business shutdowns.

On 25 Sep [2020], the Food Services Sector Group of the Shutoken Seinen Union (Inshokuten Union) held a press conference to highlight the difficulties of applying for government subsidies aimed at supporting workers who lost their jobs or are on unpaid leave due to Covid-19.

Five students--all of whom attend college in Tokyo--said they worked part-time for a company that operates facilities for wedding parties. They report that their shifts have been reduced to zero since March 2020...

On 14 Sep [2020], they began collective bargaining to ask their employer to provide paid leave or support in applying for government subsidies.

Through negotiations, they succeeded in getting paid leave for the month of March because the employer had canceled shifts that were already scheduled. However, the company would not compensate the workers for the following months [between April and June], arguing that no shifts were available and it did not order the business to be closed...

The employer also refused to help the workers when they asked for support in applying for government subsidies...

...On the application form for the government subsidies, the company said it checked "no" for the line asking whether it had shut down its business of its own volition.

According to the Inshokuten Union's Deputy Director-General, the labour office will not provide subsidies in cases where employers will not admit that they had ordered business closures of their own volition...

During discussions, the company repeatedly said that it was uncomfortable about...[checking "no" on the application form] because it felt that its business was still in operation...

The Inshokuten Union reports that it has received approximately 30 similar cases on government subsidies...

As of 23 Sep [2020], the government has approved government subsidies for 170,650 businesses that shut down due to Covid-19 (the number of applications submitted for the subsidies is 320,879)...