The Amended Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures was enacted and promulgated in June 2025. Among major changes, this article focuses on rules regarding “customer harassment” and “sexual harassment in recruitment activities”
[1] Measures against customer harassment
Companies are required to implement measures against sexual harassment, power harassment, harassment relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare and nursing care leave. The amended law has extended this rule to customer harassment.
Under the law, customer harassment is defined as behaviors that satisfy all of the three conditions below;
Companies are required to clearly indicate their policy on customer harassment, establish a consulting system, and ensure that their employees understand the policy and the system. They also need to introduce measures to handle harassment cases swiftly and appropriately and prevent such trouble. The government is set to release detailed guidelines shortly.
[2] Prevention of sexual harassment in recruiting
A report by the Labor Ministry has revealed that some 30.1% of students who graduated between 2020 and 2022 and participated in internship programs experienced sexual harassment at least once during the internship. The percentage of job-seekers who experienced harassment during other job-hunting activities was 31.9%. To address this problem, the government has made measures to prevent sexual harassment in recruiting compulsory.
Firms will be required to implement similar measures as customer harassment, clarifying their policies, establishing a consultation structure, respond to harassment cases and prevent them. Detailed rules are to be released in the coming months.
The amended law is expected to be enforced by December 2026. Please keep up with the latest information.
[Reference]
The Ministry of Labour, “Partial amendment to the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/koyoukintou/zaitaku/index_00003.html
“Status survey on workplace harassment”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000165756.html
