The Labor Ministry disclosed a report on administrative instructions relating to unpaid wages in FY2023. The report shows results of instructions given by the Labor Standards Inspection Offices to companies suspected to have failed to pay wages between January and December of 2023. This article looks at the report and an example of instruction by the labor authority.
[1] Status of supervision and instruction
Following are cases of unpaid wages handled by the Labor Standards Inspection Offices nationwide, and affected workers and total amount of unpaid wages.
Number of cases: 21,349 (up 818, y-o-y)
Affected workers: 181,903 (up 2,260, y-o-y)
Total amount of wages: 10,193,530,000 yen (down 1.9 billion yen, y-o-y)
The largest figure paid by a company as a result of the authorities’ intervention in 2023 was 230 million yen. By business type, the commerce industry accounted for the largest 21% with 4,407 cases, followed by the manufacturing sector with 4,174 cases. The service and entertainment industry logged 2,685 cases, while the construction sector had 2,047 cases.
[2] Examples of administrative instruction
The report also provides examples of instruction given by labor offices, which can be helpful for companies to reexamine their work hour management. Following is a case where a company was instructed to recount work hours to understand the status accurately.
(Outline)
A compensation claim relating to excessive work was filed, prompting the Labor Standards Inspection Office to conduct onsite inspection.
-The company used an attendance management system to record work hours, but the system was set to round down portions less than 15 minutes when registering work start and end times. In registering break hours, portions less than 15 minutes were rounded up to 15 minutes.
-Times taken to change into uniforms, which workers were required to wear, were not included in work hours.
(The Labor Standards Inspection Office’s instructions)
Implement specific measures to record work hours accurately
Conduct status survey, e.g. by interviewing workers about their actual work hours retrospectively, and make necessary payments if there are differences between overtime wages and actual amounts paid.
After the instruction, the company reportedly recounted work hours, recalculated wages and paid the difference.
Work hour management is the basic of labor management. Companies should make efforts to prevent excessive overtime, while making sure that overtime wages are paid correctly. Please record work hours accurately for appropriate labor management.
*The information is valid as of the date of this article.
