The Amendment of the Employment Measure Act: Japanese Anti-Age Discrimination Law  

Oleh:

Sakuraba, Ryoko

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Japan Labor Review vol. 6 no. 2 (2009), page 56.
Topik: The Employment Measure Act; Japan; Labor Market Policies; Workers
Fulltext: JLR22_sakuraba.pdf (263.32KB)

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Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: JJ134.5 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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The Employment Measure Act, which was enacted in 1966 and proclaimed the general principles of Japan’s labor market policies, was revised in 2007. This paper sheds light on the meaning and effect of Article 10, to which much attention was paid as Japan’s first anti-age discrimination regulation. Article 10 stipulates that firms must provide equal opportunities to workers in relation to recruitment and hiring irrespective of age, thereby making a former ‘duty to endeavor’ into a ‘legal duty.’ As a result, job offers with age limits may be rejected by employment placement organizations and discriminated workers may claim damages in tort suits. However, there are some doubts as to the effectiveness of Article 10 due to its broad exemptions, including hiring only ‘new graduates.’ Therefore, in view of its constitutional basis and policy objectives as well as limited outreach, this paper observes that anti-age discrimination regulations in Japan still indicate the nature of the employment policy approach rather than the human rights approach. Regulations on age-based treatment appear to be merely a patchwork rather than a conclusive anti-age discrimination law. Apart from the anti-age discrimination provision, in order to improve the employment management of youth and foreigners, the 2007 revision added an obligation of employers to report to Public Employment Security Offices in the event of the employment and separation of foreign workers. It also adopted ‘duty to endeavor’ provisions and guidelines, both of which recommended employers to take various measures, such as the introduction of a recruitment process for old graduates, employment of youth as regular workers, support of foreign workers in claiming for workers’ compensation benefits, and so forth. This paper provides an analysis that though these measures based on ‘duty to endeavor’ have only weak legal effects, they seem an appropriate means to attain their policy objectives while not giving rise to the issues of ‘reverse discrimination’ or ‘intrusion into freedom of contracts.’

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