The Labor Ministry has released a report on inspections over cases where wage payment failure was suspected from January to December 2024. This article looks at the result and actual cases of administrative supervision and instruction.
[1] Status of supervision and instruction
Following are the numbers of cases of back pay handled by labor standards inspection offices, affected workers and total amount of unpaid wages.
Number of cases: 22,354 (up by 1,005, y-o-y)
Affected workers: 185,197 (up by 3,294, y-o-y)
Total amount: 17.2 billion yen (up by 7 billion yen, y-o-y)
By business category, the commerce industry accounted for the largest 20% with 4,494 cases, followed by the manufacturing industry with 3,416 cases. The hospitality and entertainment businesses logged 2,832 cases and 2,213 cases were found in the construction sector. In terms of amounts of unpaid wages, transportation businesses were responsible for 41% at 7.0 billion yen. The figure for health and hygiene businesses totaled 2.5 billion yen, while the figure in manufacturing was 1.8 billion yen. The commerce and the construction sectors also recorded 1.4 billion yen and 0.9 billion yen, respectively.
[2] Cases of administrative supervision and instruction
The report shows cases where correction was made following the labor inspectors’ supervision and instruction, which are helpful in reviewing companies’ working hour management. In particular, this section looks at a case where a company was given instruction on appropriate payment of extra wages and obtaining of correct working hour records.
<Summary>
The Labor Standards Inspection Office conducted an on-site investigation following a report that workers were not being paid for office cleaning conducted before the opening time. Inspectors have found that;
-Workers would clean the workplace by the employer’s order, but they were not being paid extra wages for the task.
-Since workers would clock in after the cleaning, the time for cleaning was not counted into working hours.
<Labor Standards Inspection Office’s instruction>
1. Recommendations for adequate payment of extra wages (violation of Article 37, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Standards Act,) etc.
The inspectors instructed the company to recalculate extra wages for overtime work and pay the difference. The company was also ordered to conduct retrospective survey by listening to workers involved and pay past extra wages as needed.
2. Instruction on obtaining correct working hour data
The company was instructed to explain workers that cleaning conducted by the employer’s order is included in working hours and to have workers clock in and out correctly including the time for the cleaning in order to record working hours adequately.
Following the instruction, the company conducted hearing with workers and paid the difference based on actual working hours. The company also instructed its workers, including managers, to conduct cleaning during working hours.
The guidelines on measures to be implemented by employers for correct management of working hours define “working hours” as “the time during which a worker is under an employer’s directions and orders and engages in tasks by the employer’s orders given either explicitly or implicitly.” For instance, the time needed for the preparation for ordered work (changing into a designated uniform, etc.) or cleaning up of the office after work must be included in working hours.
Please make sure your companies’ working hour management is appropriate and rectify problems if any.
