Labour law and my contract

[wangta]

So I signed a contract with an eikaiwa quickly and moved back here quickly to help out a school. Now that I am having some doubts about how long I want to put up with what has been the most unusual working experience of my life, I'd be grateful if anybody can clarify what I think about the contract.

I have to give 3 months notice to leave and even then according to the contract I can be up for juman yen (1,000 bucks) so they can find a replacement. I presume the money is for ads but I think it's just another nasty little way to prevent disgruntled teachers from leaving - punish them in the pocket.

They also say they can fire me with only 2 weeks warning in the contract. Yes this is an arsehole contract and can I validly challenge it under Jp Labor Law if they try to make life difficult for me if I go early? I'd also appreciate any info about when I can transfer a visa. Mine isn't that old at the moment, I didn't start this job that long ago. Can I transfer a specialist in humanities visa after 3 months or do I have to wait 6 months? Thanks for any advice.

[yanpa]

"moved back here"= Japan?

Can I transfer a specialist in humanities visa after 3 months or do I have to wait 6 months?

Transfer to what?

Isn't there some kind of labour standards office you can visit?

[wangta]

"moved back here"= Japan?

Can I transfer a specialist in humanities visa after 3 months or do I have to wait 6 months?

Transfer to what?

Isn't there some kind of labour standards office you can visit?

Yes, to the first.

Second - transfer my specialist in humanities visa to another job here in Japan. I heard somewhere that you have to be a minimum of 3 or 6 months at an English teaching job on the visa to change employers.

Third - I'd love to visit a labour lawyer but we all know that as gaijin in this society most Jp lawyers' priorities are not us. Only if you have plenty of money which I have not.

[Samurai_Jerk]

First of all, labor law always supersedes an employment contract and courts in Japan are very labor friendly. By Japanese labor law you only have to give *two weeks' notice when you quit. An employer cannot withhold pay from you under any circumstances to cover the cost of your leaving or as punishment even if you give less than the legally required notice. In theory they could sue you for damages if you give less than two weeks but it probably wouldn't be worth their while. If you are classifies as a permanent employee (正社員) or contractor (契約社員) they have to give you one month's notice or one month's pay in lieu of notice if they fire you. However, I'm not sure if that applies to people who've already given notice. Also, there must be a reason for firing you unless you are in the probationary period (試用期間) which must be stated in your contract if there is one. Also, they have to have warned you in writing multiple times if there is a reason and given you specific goals for improvement and time to have achieved those goals. This may not apply in cases of misconduct, especially if you've broken the law. Also, one again I'm not sure how already having given notice affects that.

FYI, the Japanese government has been nice enough to translate labor standards into English and post them online: http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laws/index.html

As yanpa mentioned, labor standards offices are a good resource. They give free consultations, will mediate for free, and at least some locations have English interpreters. They won't take sides but a call from them is often enough to scare shady employers into compliance.

There's no transferring a visa. You have to have a job to stay here as a specialist in humanities but your status is not tied to a particular company. If you are out of status (in your case not working) for 6 months (don't quote me on that), you might lose your permission to be here and have to leave. Note that working part-time while looking for another company to sponsor you is common but technically illegal.

*One month for managers but the definition of who is and is not a manager is fairly strict. In other words they can't just call you a manage to make it harder for you to quit at short notice.

[wagyl]

As yanpa mentioned, labor standards offices are a good resource. They give free consultations, will mediate for free, and at least some locations have English interpreters. They won't take sides but a call from them is often enough to scare shady employers into compliance.

Yes, first port of call should be the Labour Standards Inspection Office responsible for the address of the place of employment. A quick search failed to find a handy list of addresses online so don't ask.

If you are out of status (in your case not working) for 6 months (don't quote me on that), you might lose your permission to be here and have to leave.

It was over ten years ago when I last had reason to look carefully at those regulations and various parts of the immigration control system have changed since then, but 10 years ago I think it was three months to find your next job in. Once again, a quick search does not bring up online support for either three months or six months, so don't ask.


If you have detected a slightly pissed off tone to my reply, it is probably because of your "the deck is stacked against gaijin" defeatism. Yes it is important to be realistic about how you look to bureaucrats and officials when you can't explain your position eloquently in their language, but that is the same in any country of the world. You knew very well what you were coming back to, and you have in no small part permitted yourself to be put in this position. No, that doesn't mean that you have to take it up the arse, and I am confident that your position is better than you think at the moment if you take the advice given above, but Jeez Louise, some posters here have trouble follow them around everywhere they go (you know who you are). Some of them are just unlucky, some of them walk into the same difficult situations each and every time. I will leave it to you to guess which category you are in.

Oh, and your "I heard somewhere" information, you have form there too. Go to primary sources whenever you can, don't rely on what random dudes on the internet have to say. They honestly don't care if you fry or not.

[kurogane]

Go to your local Hello Work!

[wagyl]

Go to your local Hello Work!

At the very least they will give you the address of the local Labour Standards Inspection Office.

[wangta]

First of all, labor law always supersedes an employment contract and courts in Japan are very labor friendly. By Japanese labor law you only have to give *two weeks' notice when you quit. An employer cannot withhold pay from you under any circumstances to cover the cost of your leaving or as punishment even if you give less than the legally required notice. In theory they could sue you for damages if you give less than two weeks but it probably wouldn't be worth their while. If you are classifies as a permanent employee (正社員) or contractor (契約社員) they have to give you one month's notice or one month's pay in lieu of notice if they fire you. However, I'm not sure if that applies to people who've already given notice. Also, there must be a reason for firing you unless you are in the probationary period (試用期間) which must be stated in your contract if there is one. Also, they have to have warned you in writing multiple times if there is a reason and given you specific goals for improvement and time to have achieved those goals. This may not apply in cases of misconduct, especially if you've broken the law. Also, one again I'm not sure how already having given notice affects that.

FYI, the Japanese government has been nice enough to translate labor standards into English and post them online: http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laws/index.html

As yanpa mentioned, labor standards offices are a good resource. They give free consultations, will mediate for free, and at least some locations have English interpreters. They won't take sides but a call from them is often enough to scare shady employers into compliance.

There's no transferring a visa. You have to have a job to stay here as a specialist in humanities but your status is not tied to a particular company. If you are out of status (in your case not working) for 6 months (don't quote me on that), you might lose your permission to be here and have to leave. Note that working part-time while looking for another company to sponsor you is common but technically illegal.

*One month for managers but the definition of who is and is not a manager is fairly strict. In other words they can't just call you a manage to make it harder for you to quit at short notice.

Thank you for all that - really appreciated. I didn't think anybody would have the time to answer as I know you and most others on these forums are busy doing some seriously heavy work. I'm very grateful. I don't want to leave this job on a whim - I've never left a job early, I've always completed my working contracts even in the last place in Jp that was a graveyard for any kind of social life or contacts.

I want to give notice but have been spooked by those nasty clauses which I knew were probably illegal. Strangely enough the owner of the place I work at is not that bad a person but as they had the gall to put such clauses in the contract and have done it for years, I am sure they would tell me I have to pay the 'penalty' in the contract for not completing it and possibly try to make other trouble. There have been a number of incidents since I started working that tell me I don't want to be around here that much longer.

I am very professional in any job and the school's lack of it has started to add up to the point where I can see that they do these things with no thought because they've had a long line of suckers before. These things are not the kinds of things you make a list of to the labour office but they do show what the employer thinks is usual.

Thanks to for answering the questions about timelines as best as you could. I have a suspicion that the laws governing how long you can stay with an employer before you give notice have changed but if I don't know it and I've been strictly in eikaiwa in Japan, then I can't expect others in different lines of work to know it. Thanks again.

[wangta]

As yanpa mentioned, labor standards offices are a good resource. They give free consultations, will mediate for free, and at least some locations have English interpreters. They won't take sides but a call from them is often enough to scare shady employers into compliance.

Yes, first port of call should be the Labour Standards Inspection Office responsible for the address of the place of employment. A quick search failed to find a handy list of addresses online so don't ask.

If you are out of status (in your case not working) for 6 months (don't quote me on that), you might lose your permission to be here and have to leave.

It was over ten years ago when I last had reason to look carefully at those regulations and various parts of the immigration control system have changed since then, but 10 years ago I think it was three months to find your next job in. Once again, a quick search does not bring up online support for either three months or six months, so don't ask.


If you have detected a slightly pissed off tone to my reply, it is probably because of your "the deck is stacked against gaijin" defeatism. Yes it is important to be realistic about how you look to bureaucrats and officials when you can't explain your position eloquently in their language, but that is the same in any country of the world. You knew very well what you were coming back to, and you have in no small part permitted yourself to be put in this position. No, that doesn't mean that you have to take it up the arse, and I am confident that your position is better than you think at the moment if you take the advice given above, but Jeez Louise, some posters here have trouble follow them around everywhere they go (you know who you are). Some of them are just unlucky, some of them walk into the same difficult situations each and every time. I will leave it to you to guess which category you are in.

Oh, and your "I heard somewhere" information, you have form there too. Go to primary sources whenever you can, don't rely on what random dudes on the internet have to say. They honestly don't care if you fry or not.

Again, thanks for taking the time. Yep, I did walk into it. My last job was not at all good and the location made it worse but I finished my contract. This time I focused too much on the location (which is conservative even by Jp standards with charmless locals but at least it is easy to get to Tokyo which is what I wanted) and not enough on the pitfalls of yet another small eikaiwa.

I know people bitched and still do about Nova et al but my experience here has settled for once and for all that yes, as I have always suspected, many eikaiwa are run by narcissists who want you to make them a profit but have to be control freaks and run everything in the way that guarantees they will keep living on their shoestring subsistence.

All the problems are present - the crappy books that have to be repaired with sticky tape, the 'let the children do what they like because they are customers and we need them' philosophy, and the part-time, resentful that they're underpaid office staff who live with Mum and Dad gratis and subtly have digs at the gaijin teacher even though the gaijin pays half their own income on rent, utilities and a pension they will never collect.

I'm through with it but I am going to have to wait to make my move. In the meantime, thanks everyone who replied here. I will go to a labour office in Tokyo on one of my days off - if I go locally, even some distance from here it will get back and I don't want that.

[Mike Oxlong]

Thank you for all that - really appreciated. I didn't think anybody would have the time to answer as I know you and most others on these forums are busy doing some seriously heavy work. I'm very grateful. I don't want to leave this job on a whim - I've never left a job early, I've always completed my working contracts even in the last place in Jp that was a graveyard for any kind of social life or contacts.

I want to give notice but have been spooked by those nasty clauses which I knew were probably illegal. Strangely enough the owner of the place I work at is not that bad a person but as they had the gall to put such clauses in the contract and have done it for years, I am sure they would tell me I have to pay the 'penalty' in the contract for not completing it and possibly try to make other trouble. There have been a number of incidents since I started working that tell me I don't want to be around here that much longer.

I am very professional in any job and the school's lack of it has started to add up to the point where I can see that they do these things with no thought because they've had a long line of suckers before. These things are not the kinds of things you make a list of to the labour office but they do show what the employer thinks is usual.

Thanks to for answering the questions about timelines as best as you could. I have a suspicion that the laws governing how long you can stay with an employer before you give notice have changed but if I don't know it and I've been strictly in eikaiwa in Japan, then I can't expect others in different lines of work to know it. Thanks again.

Why sign a contract you know contains "nasty clauses you knew were probably illegal"? You came back (from wherever) to take a job with a contract full of suspicious bits? What was the reason for that? And, if you knew it might come to this, why weren't you researching your options from the beginning? This situation doesn't make a lot of sense.

Also, I think the only labor standards office that can help you is one in charge of your region.

[wuchan]

Thank you for all that - really appreciated. I didn't think anybody would have the time to answer as I know you and most others on these forums are busy doing some seriously heavy work. I'm very grateful. I don't want to leave this job on a whim - I've never left a job early, I've always completed my working contracts even in the last place in Jp that was a graveyard for any kind of social life or contacts.

I want to give notice but have been spooked by those nasty clauses which I knew were probably illegal. Strangely enough the owner of the place I work at is not that bad a person but as they had the gall to put such clauses in the contract and have done it for years, I am sure they would tell me I have to pay the 'penalty' in the contract for not completing it and possibly try to make other trouble. There have been a number of incidents since I started working that tell me I don't want to be around here that much longer.

I am very professional in any job and the school's lack of it has started to add up to the point where I can see that they do these things with no thought because they've had a long line of suckers before. These things are not the kinds of things you make a list of to the labour office but they do show what the employer thinks is usual.

Thanks to for answering the questions about timelines as best as you could. I have a suspicion that the laws governing how long you can stay with an employer before you give notice have changed but if I don't know it and I've been strictly in eikaiwa in Japan, then I can't expect others in different lines of work to know it. Thanks again.

Why sign a contract you know contains "nasty clauses you knew were probably illegal"? You came back (from wherever) to take a job with a contract full of suspicious bits? What was the reason for that? And, if you knew it might come to this, why weren't you researching your options from the beginning? This situation doesn't make a lot of sense.

Also, I think the only labor standards office that can help you is one in charge of your region.

IDK, maybe it's just me but contract= lawyer. Hourly wage=me. Why would the rules be different in a different country? All you need is a different lawyer. If you can't afford it, you shouldn't be here OR you should be in a union.

[wagyl]

Also, I think the only labor standards office that can help you is one in charge of your region.

Yes, this is correct. I have had one experience with the Labour Standards Inspection Office. I felt mixed feelings when they recognised the name of the employer involved and knew immediately what the issue might be. It felt good to know that this bureaucracy understood what my issue was and was on my side. But it also indicated that no matter how many times they had tried to deal with this employer, they kept doing the same thing wrong.
That last fact indicates precisely what the Labour Standards Inspection Office is: a watchdog with no teeth. They can't bite, but they can give the employer a nasty gum. Hopefully your employer will be shocked and scared into releasing you properly. It was evident that the employer in my case was happy to be gummed as many times as happened.

Yes it will get back to your employer. The Labour Standards Inspection Office needs to talk to your employer to "reeducate" them. How else do you expect this to be resolved, and for anything to change into the future? Do the Tokyo branch wave a magic wand and the writing on both your copy and the employer's copy of the contract change?

[wangta]

Thank you for all that - really appreciated. I didn't think anybody would have the time to answer as I know you and most others on these forums are busy doing some seriously heavy work. I'm very grateful. I don't want to leave this job on a whim - I've never left a job early, I've always completed my working contracts even in the last place in Jp that was a graveyard for any kind of social life or contacts.

I want to give notice but have been spooked by those nasty clauses which I knew were probably illegal. Strangely enough the owner of the place I work at is not that bad a person but as they had the gall to put such clauses in the contract and have done it for years, I am sure they would tell me I have to pay the 'penalty' in the contract for not completing it and possibly try to make other trouble. There have been a number of incidents since I started working that tell me I don't want to be around here that much longer.

I am very professional in any job and the school's lack of it has started to add up to the point where I can see that they do these things with no thought because they've had a long line of suckers before. These things are not the kinds of things you make a list of to the labour office but they do show what the employer thinks is usual.

Thanks to for answering the questions about timelines as best as you could. I have a suspicion that the laws governing how long you can stay with an employer before you give notice have changed but if I don't know it and I've been strictly in eikaiwa in Japan, then I can't expect others in different lines of work to know it. Thanks again.

Why sign a contract you know contains "nasty clauses you knew were probably illegal"? You came back (from wherever) to take a job with a contract full of suspicious bits? What was the reason for that? And, if you knew it might come to this, why weren't you researching your options from the beginning? This situation doesn't make a lot of sense.

Also, I think the only labor standards office that can help you is one in charge of your region.

Thanks. I did think the clauses were garbage and could not be enforced, but I didn't envisage myself leaving before the contract's end. I never have done so in any job. The employer was fine to begin with and I didn't have many options. I wanted to work again in Japan and this offered me the way in.

I did my homework on jobs even to the point of coming back for a month's vacation in Japan after I finished my previous job. I went to a number of job interviews but the jobs are now mostly in the hands of small eikaiwa and believe me, those employers came across worse than the one I went with.

Went to an interview for a school that teaches business English (one of my specialties), really wanted the job but was put off by arrogant shit such as their lack of interest in helping a new teacher get housing. 'We will assist with finding it but we won't pay the deposit' sort of shit. This is English teaching circa 2015 and no wonder many schools want young grads - they don't know what's going on.

I don't want to go to the labour office yet - not until I can find out how soon I can give notice under the new Immi laws for gaijin employees that came into effect a few years ago. From what I know you can't jump from job to job anymore when you are sponsored in the way I am. I am also wary of anything getting back to my school as I will go if they start putting the screws on me by invoking the rubbish clauses.

[wagyl]

Mate you need clarity and focus in your questions. If they can't be expressed clearly in English, you can't get the message across to anyone here or in Japanese.

not until I can find out how soon I can give notice under the new Immi laws for gaijin employees that came into effect a few years ago.

has no meaning. Immigration law controls the activities you can engage in in Japan: what broad field you are permitted to work in. While there are issues which arise when you cease employment, in that you are no longer engaging in the activities which you came to Japan for, there is a period of time (whether three months or six) where you are permitted to try to return to work in that same broad field.

What has changed is that the employer is now obliged to advise Immigration that you are now no longer in their employ, so that you are less likely to get away with an extended tourist experience after resigning.

Immigration law does not and has never tied you to remain at an employer. No matter what your mate down the pub thought.

[omae mona]

Great summary, waggly. That's not a nickname I made up for you, it's what my auto-correct changed your name to. But I kind of like it, so I am going to leave it!

What has changed is that the employer is now obliged to advise Immigration that you are now no longer in their employ, so that you are less likely to get away with an extended tourist experience after resigning.

Regarding that, I remember doing a bit of internet search last year on this topic, because I was under the same impression. But in the end, I couldn't find a rule that obligated employers. I did find procedures (an official web site, maybe?) for employers to do this reporting, but it seemed voluntary. Did you find something concrete?

[wagyl]

Great summary, waggly. That's not a nickname I made up for you, it's what my auto-correct changed your name to. But I kind of like it, so I am going to leave it!

What has changed is that the employer is now obliged to advise Immigration that you are now no longer in their employ, so that you are less likely to get away with an extended tourist experience after resigning.

Regarding that, I remember doing a bit of internet search last year on this topic, because I was under the same impression. But in the end, I couldn't find a rule that obligated employers. I did find procedures (an official web site, maybe?) for employers to do this reporting, but it seemed voluntary. Did you find something concrete?

Whoops: Hello Work is the place that employers give notification to.

外国人を雇用した時は...。
雇用対策法に基づく外国人雇用状況の届出が義務づけられている事業主の方は，外国人（「特別永住
者」，「外交」及び「公用」は除く。）を雇用した場合や外国人が離職した場合は，ハローワークへ届出をし
てください。

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/seisaku/pdf/fuhoushurou.pdf

and the primary source:

事業主の外国人雇用状況の届出義務
雇用対策法（平成19年10月１日施行）に基づき、外国人を雇用する事業主には、外国人労働者の雇入れおよび離職の際に、その氏名、在留資格などについて、ハローワークへ届け出ることが義務づけられています。

Fuck pdfs which don't properly copy and paste... http://www.mhlw.go.jp/file/06-Seisakujo ... 047608.pdf

[Samurai_Jerk]

Immigration law does not and has never tied you to remain at an employer. No matter what your mate down the pub thought.

He is correct. You could quit your job the first day.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have a suspicion that the laws governing how long you can stay with an employer before you give notice have changed but if I don't know it and I've been strictly in eikaiwa in Japan, then I can't expect others in different lines of work to know it. Thanks again.

By the way, there's no special status for eikaiwa teachers as you seem to be implying. Most FG's with work visas doing white collar jobs that aren't classified as engineers are on the same Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa that you are. That's true whether you're a trader at Goldman Sachs, a headhunter at Robert Walters, a marketing manager at GE, or a teacher at the local mom-and-pop English school run out of the first floor of your neighbor's house. Labor Law applies to everyone working legally in Japan regardless of nationality or status. Immigration rules particular to your status are the same for everyone with the same status regardless of line of work.

[wagyl]

I can't help thinking that the confusion here in the "random guy told me that I can't change jobs" story might be from a difference between a legal imperative, and a moral imperative. There is nothing stopping you legally leaving your employer. However, you might have sleepless nights after having put them through the administrative hassle of going sponsor. And you might have great difficulty in finding another employer to take you on with sponsorship, when you want to renew your visa. This might be what random guy was talking about. The next question is whether the harm you do to the moral universe by resigning is greater than the harm done to the moral universe by your employer (although if their greatest crime is requiring text books to be repaired with sticky tape..... I do recognise that you might not feel like giving details [and we are probably not interested in them anyway] but so far I get that your work conditions are not ideal, but I am not convinced that they are shit.) I have seen shitty workplaces with my own eyes, and I was thankful that I was not tied to them by obligations, moral or legal. I do also get the impression that you don't have much community connection here outside of the workplace, and that fact alone will make having a comfortable work environment very important for you. Get out of that funk and do something about an improvement!

Then again, this is the poster who is convinced that people are interested enough in him that they will gossip about him going to a government office (and yes, believe me, I do know about small town gossip, in more than one country), and this fear so paralyses him that he would prefer to do nothing about improving his situation, a situation which he admits he is the cause of anyway. Unless you show some positive action, wangta, which convinces me that you are doing more than just posting with your complaints and then rejecting any advice you receive, you will find effort on my part to help you out reduces even further than the minimal you are getting already.

[havill]

So I signed a contract with an eikaiwa quickly and moved back here quickly to help out a school. Now that I am having some doubts about how long I want to put up with what has been the most unusual working experience of my life, I'd be grateful if anybody can clarify what I think about the contract.

I have to give 3 months notice to leave and even then according to the contract I can be up for juman yen (1,000 bucks) so they can find a replacement. I presume the money is for ads but I think it's just another nasty little way to prevent disgruntled teachers from leaving - punish them in the pocket.

They also say they can fire me with only 2 weeks warning in the contract. Yes this is an arsehole contract and can I validly challenge it under Jp Labor Law if they try to make life difficult for me if I go early? I'd also appreciate any info about when I can transfer a visa. Mine isn't that old at the moment, I didn't start this job that long ago. Can I transfer a specialist in humanities visa after 3 months or do I have to wait 6 months? Thanks for any advice.

TLDR: what the other people said here.

Please define "contact"? If it's a standard 内定 for a part-time/full-time/dispatch/contract position, as others here have mentioned, Japanese labor law supersedes and overrides any conditions/fine print that may conflict with the law. These catches are null and void and meaningless if they conflict with the (labor) law. Even if you signed it.

If it's a contract for a specific service/product to be delivered, which specific start and end times for a project, then its possible that early termination etc (for the failure to deliver said service/product/project) could apply. However, it's rare that an employment-like arrangement would be done this way, and if it was a contract with specific deliverables and early-termination / fail-to-deliver penalties, the contract would be way thicker than what a standard employee gets. No way an eikaiwa would have the type of legal team that could craft up a legally binding document for this type of contract.

I'm leaning to it being an employment agreement based on what you initially described.

[wagyl]

havill, you were in a hurry. TLDR did not just apply to the thread, but to the OP. I will edit it to leave just the important details of the contract relationship.

... eikaiwa ... teacher ...

TLDR: what the other people said here.

[omae mona]

and the primary source:

事業主の外国人雇用状況の届出義務
雇用対策法（平成19年10月１日施行）に基づき、外国人を雇用する事業主には、外国人労働者の雇入れおよび離職の際に、その氏名、在留資格などについて、ハローワークへ届け出ることが義務づけられています。

Well that would be it! Thanks.

I note (from the attached PDF) that the notification to Hello Work is mandatory for hiring and firing, even for gaijin with no work restrictions (e.g. spouse visa holders, permanent residence). Only special permanent residents (e.g. zainichi korean) and diplomats / public servants are exempted.