Every year, the Labor Ministry draws up the municipal labor administration policy and discloses the information. This article covers roles of the Labor Standards Inspection Offices performed under the ministerial policy.
Many administrative organizations carry out their tasks based on yearly plans. According to the Labor Ministry’s municipal labor administration policy, prefectural labor bureaus formulate their own labor administration policies, including priority issues and measures. Based on the prefectures’ policies, Labor Standards Inspection Offices undertake administrative management systematically.
It is widely understood that Labor Standards Inspection Offices process applications relating to Labor Standards Act and other labor laws, provide consultation on labor affairs and give necessary instructions. Labor Standards Inspection Offices’ Inspection Department accepts companies’ Labor-Management Agreement on Overtime, or so-called “the 36 Agreement,” and Rules of Employment. Companies also submit labor insurance applications to the Inspection Department. Labor standards inspection officers also provide specific instructions about work hours or wages to individual companies.
The Labor Standards Inspection Offices’ Industrial Accident Department processes payment of work-related accident benefits, while the Safety and Health Department inspects documents relating to the installation of new machines or equipment and provides technical guidance to secure safety and health of workers. Officers also conduct on-site inspections when work-related accidents occur and give instructions to ensure safety in the areas where the accidents happened.
Matters relating to the principle of “equal pay for equal work” are handled by prefectural labor bureaus, which are responsible for the laws that serve as legal basis of the equal-pay principle, namely, the Act on the Improvement of Status of Part-time and Fixed-time Workers and the Act on Protecting Dispatches Workers. Since November 2023, however, Labor Bureaus and Labor Standards Inspection Offices have been required to work together to rectify pay gaps between regular and non-regular workers based on the equal-pay principle. Using the Labor Standards Inspection Offices’ survey results, they issue written instructions to companies that failed to provide adequate explanation about gaps in salaries or bonuses and require employers to take necessary action to improve the situation.
There is one Labor Bureau in each of the 47 prefectures, whereas Labor Standards Inspection Offices are at 321 locations across the country with Inspection Offices handling calls about a wide range of day-to-day labor issues. This is partly why Inspection Offices are tasked to check actual status of problems regarding equal pay for equal work and collaborate with the Labor Bureaus.
From April 2024, rules to limit overtime work of construction workers, drivers of trucks, buses and taxis and doctors have become effective. Among them, overtime work of construction workers and drivers are under the jurisdiction of the Labor Ministry and the Land and Transport Ministry, which will work in collaboration. For example, the two ministries will implement measures to support the construction industry to secure workers and provide them with necessary training.
*Explanation about the Labor Standards Inspection Offices is based on an average organizational structure.
[Reference]
Labor Ministry, “Labor Standards”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/roudoukijun/kijyungaiyou/index.html
