Treatment of leave and working hours for vaccination against new coronas

 

Vaccination itself is not a job, but the time spent on vaccination and the handling of working hours and leave in case of adverse reactions are of concern. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's position is as follows

From the viewpoint of infection prevention measures in the workplace, it is desirable to establish a leave system that can be utilized in the event that a worker becomes ill after receiving the vaccine or the vaccination, so that the worker can receive the new coronary vaccine with peace of mind.

In addition to that,

1) Establish a new leave system that can be used for vaccinations and medical treatment in the event of adverse reactions after vaccinations, and review the existing sick leave and expired annual leave accumulation systems (a system that allows employees to accumulate expired annual paid leave and use it for medical treatment) so that they can be used for these situations as well.

2) Allowing workers to be excused from work (e.g., allowing workers to be excused from work during vaccination time and moving down the end of the workday) or to be deemed to have attended work (allowing workers to be excused from work during vaccination time and treating that time as if they had worked as usual) without any specific penalty.

As long as they are available to workers on a voluntary basis, they are generally considered reasonable and not disadvantageous to workers, and therefore, even if they are accompanied by a change in work rules, they are considered to be effective as long as the revised work rules are made known to workers. 

In taking such measures, it is important to consider the wishes and intentions of workers so that the system can be easily utilized by workers who wish to receive the new coronary vaccine.

In the case of workplaces that employ 10 or more workers at any given time, procedures for changing work rules are also required.

The revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law was passed

 

On June 3, 2021, the House of Representatives plenary session passed and enacted the revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law, which establishes a new "male version of maternity leave" to make it easier for fathers to take time off immediately after the birth of their children.

Companies will be required to encourage each employee who has a child to take maternity leave. The aim is to encourage husbands to participate in housework and childcare, which tends to be dominated by wives, and to raise the percentage of men taking childcare leave from 7.48% in fiscal 2019 to 30% by 2025.

The male version of maternity leave is a special measure of maternity leave that allows a man to take a total of four weeks off within eight weeks of the birth of his child. Only husbands can use this system, and they can take up to two separate leaves. The deadline for applying for childcare leave is one month in advance, but the deadline has been shortened to two weeks to make it easier to take time off. With childcare leave benefits and exemption from social insurance premiums, up to 80% of the actual wages will be covered, just like the regular system. The new system is expected to take effect in October 2022.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, many husbands want to take time off immediately after their wives give birth, when postpartum depression is more likely to occur, and couples whose husbands are involved in housework and childcare tend to have two or more children. During deliberations in the Diet, it was pointed out that this was a "preferential treatment" for men, but the ministry explained that encouraging husbands to take maternity leave would reduce the burden on wives and help them continue their careers and counter the declining birthrate.

The revised law also strengthens the responsibility of companies. From April 2022, it will be mandatory for companies to inform their employees about the maternity leave system and confirm their intentions, which is currently only an effort. The aim is to create an environment where it is easy to take time off, along with in-house training and consultation services.

In addition, it will be possible for married couples to take up to two installments of the standard childcare leave, which in principle can only be taken once before the child turns one year old. Large companies with more than 1,000 employees will also be required to disclose the status of employees taking childcare leave starting in April 2023.

The report on the "Survey on Harassment in the Workplace" has been released

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has compiled a report on the "Survey on Harassment in the Workplace. Please use this report as a reference for preventing and resolving harassment in the workplace.

Incidence of harassment and workplace characteristics related to harassment
Regarding the changes in the number of consultations on harassment over the past three years, the percentage of "no change" was the highest for "power harassment," "significant annoyance from customers," "harassment in pregnancy, childbirth, childcare leave," "harassment in nursing care leave," and "sexual harassment in job hunting," while the percentage of "decrease" was the highest for "sexual harassment.
As for the characteristics of the workplace, the difference between those who experienced harassment and those who did not experienced harassment was particularly large for both power harassment and sexual harassment with regard to "little or no communication between superiors and subordinates," "no anti-harassment regulations enacted," "no room for failure or low tolerance for failure," and "lots of overtime work or difficulty in taking leave".

Status of efforts to prevent and resolve harassment
As employment management measures regarding harassment such as power harassment, sexual harassment, pregnancy, childbirth, childcare leave, and nursing care leave, about 80% of the companies have implemented "clarification and awareness-raising of the content of harassment and policies prohibiting harassment" and "establishment and awareness-raising of a consultation counter". However, the ratio of "measures to enable the person in charge to respond appropriately according to the contents and circumstances of the consultation" was around 40%.
For all types of harassment, the percentage of respondents who experienced harassment was the lowest among those who answered that their workplace was "actively working on it," and the percentage of those who answered that their workplace was "not working on it much" was the highest.

Experience of harassment
When asked whether they had experienced power harassment, sexual harassment, or significant annoyance from customers or others at their place of work in the past three years and how often, the percentage of those who had experienced each type of harassment at least once was 31.4% for power harassment, 15.0% for significant annoyance from customers or others, and 10.2% for sexual harassment.

What to do after being subjected to harassment, and what to do at work after learning of harassment
In the case of power harassment and sexual harassment, the highest percentage of respondents chose "did nothing" as their action after being subjected to harassment. On the other hand, in the case of significant annoyance from customers, etc., the percentage of "Consulted with my supervisor in the company" was the highest, followed by "Consulted with my colleagues in the company.
As for the response of the workplace after learning of harassment, "nothing in particular was done" (47.1%) for power harassment, "they listened to your requests or consulted with you to solve the problem" (34.6%) for sexual harassment, and "they listened to your requests or consulted with you to solve the problem" (48.6%) for significant annoyance from customers, etc. that had the highest percentage.

Key Points on People Management in the FY2021 - Local Labor Administration Management Policy

 

◆What are the points of concern?

The "FY2021 Local Labor Administration Operation Policy" has been formulated to show the trend of future supervision and guidance policies by the Labor Standards Inspection Offices. Let's take a look at the points of interest.

◆Support for the maintenance and continuation of employment

After the emergency response period to the new Corona, the center of gravity of policy seems to be shifting to post-Corona.

It says that the company will support the use of enrolled secondments and outplacement support using subsidies for stable industrial employment and trial employment. It will be important to confirm employee’s intentions regarding the secondment contract and secondment.

◆Promotion of women's participation and advancement and men's use of childcare leave, etc.

The number of companies obligated to formulate action plans under the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace has been expanded to 101 or more employees from this April. In addition, the so-called male version of the maternity leave system (the main pillar of which is to allow male employees to take four weeks off during the first eight weeks after the birth of a child) is scheduled to be newly established, and the system is scheduled to come into effect in the fall of 2022.

◆Telework and work-related injury

It seems that efforts are being stepped up for telework, which has now become a matter of course. There is support through subsidies for securing human resources. Telework will become essential knowledge for HR managers, both from a technical standpoint and in terms of people management such as working hour management and health management.

It is also important to be aware of work-related injuries caused by the new corona infection. There have been cases where workers' compensation due to corona has been recognized not only for medical-related occupations, but also for cleaners in the building maintenance industry, construction managers, salespeople and construction workers, port cargo handlers, and sales clerks.

Although supervision and guidance are mainly related to the correction of long working hours, this year's management policy also mentions workplace harassment, intervals between working hours, and equal pay for equal work, so we need to pay attention to investigations and guidance that reflect recent trends.

*The intervals between work hours are the way to ensure that workers have time to live and sleep by providing them with a certain amount of time to rest after work.

How much progress has been made in improving the treatment of part-time and fixed-term employees?

From a survey conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT)

Enforcement of the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law

In order to eliminate unreasonable differences in treatment between regular employees (full-time workers with indefinite employment) and part-time and fixed-term workers within the same company, the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law (hereinafter referred to as the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law) came into effect in April 2020. The law will apply to small and medium-sized companies from April 1, 2021.

The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) has released a questionnaire to companies that was conducted prior to the implementation of the law.

To what extent can you explain the reasons for differences in treatment?

Under the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law, the reason for the difference in treatment between full-time and part-time/fixed-term employees must be explained to the employee upon his/her request.

69.3% of the companies that "know the details" of the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Law answered that they could explain most of the differences in treatment, while only 45.1% of the companies answered that they did not know the details.

Efforts to eliminate differences in treatment

The report also summarizes what we have done so far and what we plan to do in the future to eliminate unreasonable differences in treatment between regular, full-time employees and other workers.

Of these, the following initiatives were selected by a greater percentage of respondents as those that they plan to implement in the future.

*Introduction of retirement benefits and review of calculation methods for retirement benefits, etc.

*Introduction of various allowances and review of calculation methods, etc.

*Review of the system and utilization of dispatched workers

In addition to reviewing basic wage calculation methods and factors, it is necessary to be aware of the above points in future efforts.

The survey provides information on trends in wages, bonuses, benefits, and leave systems, so why not use it as a reference for future initiatives?

Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, "Results of a Survey on the Utilization of 'Part-Time' and 'Fixed-term' Workers: Company Survey.
https://www.jil.go.jp/institute/research/2021/207-1.html

Consider a personnel system that anticipates longer tenure

 

The age of 100 years of life

The Survey on "Career Development and Employment Management Issues in the Era of 100 Years of Life" conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILP) includes some points that can be helpful when taking action in anticipation of longer service periods.

Treatment when promotion to management positions is no longer expected

Regarding the treatment of full-time employees who are no longer expected to be promoted to managerial positions, the highest percentage of 77.9% said they would continue to work without promotion or advancement. This was followed by treating them as specialists equivalent to managers (34.4%) and rating them as employees equivalent to managers (30.5%). The above percentages are for small and medium-sized companies, but the trend is similar for large companies.

Personnel system for career development and its effects

Regarding human resource systems such as the goal management system and career interviews, the "mentor system" seems to be particularly effective for younger employees up to age 39.

It seems that the introduction of the system is generally less effective for older employees, and in particular, the self-reporting system is less effective or even counterproductive in some cases (60 years old and above) compared to younger employees, but the system for "participation in social contribution" seems to be effective.

The most common human resource development benefits of "social contribution participation" activities such as volunteering are the opportunity to come into contact with society's values (69.5%), the expansion of external networks (48.6%), and the acquisition of new perspectives (37.0%). The trend is similar for both large and small companies.

Handling of concurrent and side jobs

44.0% of SMEs prohibit concurrent or second jobs in their employment regulations. On the other hand, 32.3% of the respondents answered that they have no regulations. It is important to consider your company's policy so that you do not panic in case of emergency.

Enforcement of the Revised Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons

The revised Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons will come into effect on April 1. It includes a provision that makes it an effort obligation to secure employment for employees until the age of 70. Although it is an obligation to make efforts, we should prepare for it on a planned basis.

Support system for secondment by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

◆Support system for secondment

Companies that are temporarily downsizing their operations due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection are taking steps to use "secondment" (sometimes called "employment sharing" or "employee sharing") with companies that are short on labor in order to maintain employment for their employees.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has also introduced measures to support the efforts of such secondment for the purpose of maintaining employment at Corona Damages, which are introduced below.

◆What is secondment?

The so-called secondment refers to the process by which a worker, while maintaining some kind of relationship with the company from which he or she is transferred, enters into a new employment contract relationship with the company to which he or she is transferred, and continues to work for a certain period of time. The term "enrolled secondment" refers to a worker who signs an employment contract with both the company from which he/she was seconded and the company to which he/she was seconded.

◆Subsidies for stable industrial employment

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) provides support for both the company from which the employee is transferred and the company to which the employee is transferred.

This subsidy is for employers who have been forced to temporarily reduce their business activities due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection, and who wish to maintain the employment of their workers through secondment. This subsidy was newly established on February 5, 2021.

The program subsidizes a part of the expenses required during the secondment, such as wages, education and training, and labor management coordination expenses, to be borne by the secondment employers and destination employers (secondment operating expenses). In addition, subsidies are also provided for measures required for the establishment of the secondment, such as the cost of preparing work rules and secondment contracts, education and training conducted in advance of the secondment by the originating employer, and the maintenance of equipment and supplies for the acceptance of the secondment by the destination employer (initial expenses for secondment).

Please keep in mind that this is a subsidy to maintain employment, so it is assumed that the employee will return to work at the original place of business after the secondment period is over.

◆Matching system

Other support measures include a matching system by Industrial Employment Stabilization Center of Japan. The Center provides free matching services for companies that have temporarily over-employed due to the effects of the new coronavirus and wish to utilize on-the-job secondment with companies that are short on manpower in order to protect the employment of their employees. (The Center has offices in 47 prefectures throughout Japan and provides consultation services to companies.)