Gov’t mulling postponing key work style reform steps

February 21, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese government is considering pushing back by one year a planned expansion of the country's discretionary work system under envisioned work style reform bills, informed sources said Wednesday.

It is also mulling a one-year postponement of the planned exclusion of highly skilled professionals from work-hour regulations under the bills.

Both measures are currently slated to enter into force in April 2020. The promotion of work style reforms is a flagship policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration.

Under the discretionary system, workers are paid fixed amounts regardless of how long they actually worked. The planned bills would include expansion of the coverage of the system now limited to specialist and some other jobs.

Critics say that companies may abuse the system to force employees to work long hours.

During a parliamentary debate last month, Abe said the average work hours of employees under the discretionary system are shorter than those of ordinary employees.

But the labor ministry later admitted that the comparison was inappropriate. Abe had to withdraw his remark.

The problem apparently led the government to decide that it should secure a sufficient preparatory period by pushing back the enforcement of the new measures.

The opposition camp is seeking a full reworking of the work style reform bills as a whole. The government and the ruling bloc should give up the idea of introducing the bills early, said Kiyomi Tsujimoto, parliamentary affairs chief of the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Jiji Press