A provider of nursing-care services is requiring that Filipino job applicants sign a statement absolving the company of any responsibility should they die in Japan, according to a statement which was obtained by Kyodo News.
The statement, written in both Japanese and English, says, " . . . in case of loss of life of the undersigned through natural circumstances while in Japan, I release, waive and forever discharge Juju Corp., its officers, directors, representatives or employees from any action for sums of money or other obligations arising."
There have been complaints from Filipino employees about harsh working conditions at Juju.
Another document showed that the company in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, had assigned one employee to night duty 13 times in a month.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has opened a probe into the statement Juju asked its employees to sign, as well as its working conditions.
Juju runs 13 facilities in Osaka and Nara prefectures. It started hiring Filipino women around 2009.
According to the Filipino women and documents regarding their contracts, an organization that is related to Juju distributed the statement to them when they were interviewed in Manila as part of a recruitment procedure.
A former employee at Juju said that she could not change jobs when she wanted to because she owed the nursing-care company hundreds of thousands of yen in travel and other expenses.
Hidekazu Kobayashi, head of the Kyoei Group, which has Juju under its umbrella, declined to make any comments on the matter when contacted by Kyodo.