Labor
Amendment to the Employment Insurance Act
The Amendment to the Employment Insurance Act Etc. (the
"Amendment") was enacted on March 29, 2016. The Amendment
amends the Employment Insurance Act and related acts for the
purposes of preventing worker turnover while also promoting the
reemployment of previously employed workers and the employment of
the elderly. The Amendment includes the following points.
First, as to the Act on the Welfare of Workers Who Take Care of
Children or Other Family Members Including Child Care and Family
Care Leave (the "Child and Family Care Leave Act"), in
order to avoid the need for workers to leave employment so as to
provide family care, family care leave will be allowed to be taken
in installments. Prior to the Amendment, family care leave was
allowed to be taken only at a single time. In addition, the scope
of children to which child care leave applies will be expanded (for
example, it will apply to a child under the care of a worker who
has applied for a special adoption), and the requirements for
fixed-term employees to apply for child care leave will be relaxed.
(These amendments will come into force on January 1, 2017.)
Next, as to the Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and
Treatment between Men and Women in Employment (the "Equal
Opportunity Act"), in order to prevent superiors or colleagues
from creating a working environment that is hostile to employee
pregnancy, childbirth, or taking child or family care leave,
employers will be required to take measures for the proper
management of employees (to come into force on April 1, 2017).
Guidelines as to what actions must be taken are planned to be
established by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Third, as to the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly
Persons, workers who are newly employed after reaching 65 years of
age will be covered by employment insurance (to come into force on
January 1, 2017).
Last, as to the Employment Insurance Act, insurance premium rates
for unemployment benefits were decreased from 1.0 to 0.8 percent
(to come into force on April 1, 2016).
The provisions of the Amendment cover a broad range of items, and
the enforcement dates differ depending on the specific area being
amended. Employers must act in accordance with the various
provisions of the Amendment with key consideration paid to each
enforcement date. With respect to the amendments to the Child and
Family Care Leave Act and the Equal Opportunity Act, companies must
confirm whether policies should be established or revised regarding
the requirements for taking leave or the measures to prevent
harassment of an employee taking leave, while taking into account
the guidelines to be established by the Minister of Health, Labour
and Welfare.
Antitrust
JFTC's Enhanced Cooperation in Enforcement with Foreign Competition Authorities
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (the "JFTC") has been
working to enhance cooperation in enforcement with foreign
competition authorities. In 2015 and 2016, the JFTC has executed
agreements on enforcement cooperation with the Australian
competition authority, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (the "ACCC") (April 2015), and the Chinese
competition authorities: the National Development and Reform
Commission (October 2015) and the Ministry of Commerce (April
2016). These agreements promote enhanced cooperation in areas such
as competition law systems, policies, information exchange, and
reports, but they do not involve the exchange of evidence relating
to individual matters under investigation or review. However, the
agreement with ACCC includes provisions for consideration of
sharing the information obtained regarding matters under
investigation or review.
Furthermore, in March 2016, at the regular bilateral meeting
between the JFTC and the European Union ("EU")
competition authority (the European Commission), the authorities
agreed in principle to, and are currently negotiating, an amendment
to the Cooperation Agreement signed in 2003 so that they will be
able to exchange information obtained during an investigation or
review.
Based on the above, cooperation and arrangements with the
Australian, Chinese, and EU competition authorities will be
strengthened. The JFTC has already executed cooperation agreements
with many other foreign competition authorities, and international
enforcement of antitrust law is likely to be further enhanced.
Labor
Results Published from the Supervision of Enterprises Suspected of Excessive Overtime on April 1, 2016
Since January 2015, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (the "MHLW"), through Labor Standards Inspection Offices ("LSIOs"), has been supervising enterprises suspected of having overtime in excess of 100 hours per month per employee. According to the recent publication of the results of its supervision of 8,530 enterprises from April to December 2015, illegal activity was detected at 76.2 percent of the subject enterprises (or 6,501 enterprises), of which illegal overtime conditions were found in 4,790 enterprises. The MHLW has implemented a policy to enhance supervision through LSIOs, and the target enterprises will be expanded to include entities suspected of having more than 80 overtime hours per month.
Enforcement of the Act Concerning the Promotion of Women's Career Activities (the "PWCA")
The PWCA came into force on April 1, 2016. For details on the PWCA, please see the September 2015 and December 2015/January 2016 issues of this newsletter.
Corporate
Ministerial Ordinance Amending the Commercial Registration Rules, promulgated on April 20, 2016
After the coming into force of the Ordinance on October 1, 2016, an applicant company is required to attach a list of shareholders to an application for change related to a matter requiring a shareholders' resolution (such as the appointment of directors) in the commercial registry. The list must include, among other items, names and addresses of the top 10 shareholders (or, if a smaller number of shareholders holds two-thirds or more of the voting rights, the list may include information of only such shareholders). Thus, it is now more important for companies to appropriately prepare and administer its shareholders' registry so that its shareholders can be properly ascertained.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
