Recently, the Tokyo Public Law Office has seen a surge in inquiries similar to the following:
I'm coming up to my company's set retirement age of 60. The company offers workers a re-employment contract after we turn 60 — a one-year fixed-term contract that is renewable until the age of 65. The problem is that the salary under the re-employment contract is considerably lower than my current pay, in spite of the fact that I would be performing the same job with the same responsibilities as I have now. Isn't this discriminatory and unacceptable?
In Japan, many companies adopt a system of set retirement at the age of 60, even though people can only receive the national pension from the age of 65. That means there are people who can't receive any income between the ages of 60 and 65.