Fewer institutions mistreat foreign trainees in 2017

February 20, 2018

Tokyo- A total of 213 firms and organizations in Japan were found to have mistreated technical trainees from abroad in 2017, down 10.9 percent from the previous year, falling for the second straight year, the Immigration Bureau of Japan's Justice Ministry said Monday.

The number of unfair practices involved totaled 299.

Of the total, the number of cases in which wages were not paid was the largest, at 139. Document tampering and forgery cases, including falsifying withholding tax statements to conceal wage nonpayment, followed, with 73. The number of labor law violations, such as illegal overtime, came to 24.

Illegal low wages and long work hours for foreigners working in Japan under the country's technical trainee program have become a problem.

A new law for improving the treatment of foreign trainees and strengthening supervision on companies and others with such trainees took effect last November.

The latest survey covered companies and organizations that accept foreign trainees under the system before the enforcement of the new law. Jiji Press