Japan Lower House OKs Controversial Work Style Reform Bill

May 31, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's House of Representatives on Thursday passed a controversial work style reform bill, making it almost certain that the measure will be enacted during the ongoing parliamentary session.

At a plenary meeting, the lower chamber of the Diet approved the bill by a majority vote with support mainly from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito. Among opposition parties, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Party of Hope voted for the bill.

The ruling camp plans to initiate deliberations on the bill at the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, on Monday.

Discussions are under way to extend the Diet session, which is currently scheduled to end on June 20, for around 20 days until early July.

The bill is designed mainly to introduce penalty-attached overtime restrictions, including a monthly cap set at 100 hours.

The legislation also includes a plan to exclude highly skilled professionals earning at least 10.75 million yen per year from the work hour regulation.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and some other opposition forces claim that the legislation would cause an increase in deaths from overwork.

These parties are expected to work together in the Upper House to get the legislation withdrawn.

Meanwhile, Kenta Izumi, Diet affairs head of the Democratic Party for the People, an opposition party, said his party may support the bill if the plan to exclude high-income professionals from the work hour regulation is scrapped.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe views the work style reform bill as the most important legislation in the ongoing Diet session.

As the enactment of the bill has become almost certain, the focus is likely to shift to whether bills to introduce casino-featuring integrated resorts and strengthen measures to prevent passive smoking clear the Diet during the current session. Jiji Press