Governmental subsidies for maintaining employment(Joseikin/助成金） 2011.4.1

There are many employment maintenance support programｓ available from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLF).

Right after the Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and Tsunami, one of the most practical subsidy for the company located in the disaster-hit prefectures, such as Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki is the the Immediate Employment Security Subsidy for SMEs (Small and medium enterprises).

This program supports SMEs trying to maintain employment instead of dismissing their employees in the face of the disaster.

For example, when an employer provides their employees with allowance for absence from work against the day(s) of business suspension due to the disaster, this program will share the expenditure upon application.

The application made by this coming June 30 can be backdated to March 11, so that the subsidy money will be granted retroactively to March 11.

To be qualified for the subsidy money, at least your company must
1.  enroll in the governmental employment insurance.
2.  have paid the contributions every year.
3.  have drawn up the rules of employment and have submitted them to the Labor Standards Inspection Office.
4.  prove that the sales amount of March 2011 has been decreased by at least 5% compared to the previous month or to last March.

If you need more information, please feel free to contact us by email at yamashin92@gmail.com
or call 045-530-2800 (Sat. and Sun. will also be available)

Yamamoto HR Office
Shinji Yamamoto

Japanese labor laws apply to all employees working in Japan

In principle, Japanese labor laws and regulations shall be applied to all employees including overseas people working in Japan.

Items to be mentioned in the rules of employment

The following items must be stated in the rules of employment.

1. Matters pertaining to the opening and closing times, breaks, holidays and matters pertaining to the change in shifts.

What are the rules of employment?

The rules of employment stipulate working conditions and office regulations. Any company that employs ten or more employees is required to provide the rules of employment and submit them to the Labor Standards Inspection Office.

The company is also required to make these regulations well-known to the employees. It is desirable for overseas employees to provide the rules of employment in a language that such employees understand if they don't understand Japanese.

The rules of employment shall not infringe any law such as the labor standards act and other related laws.