Japan Tobacco Inc. said Wednesday it will launch an early retirement program on Nov. 19.

Some 9,200 middle-aged workers will be eligible for the program on March 31.

The program will cover workers aged between 40 and 59 in the period between April 1 and March 31. The employees must also have had more than 15 years of service with the company.

JT plans to accept applications for voluntary retirement up until Jan. 11.

In 1997, 803 JT employees retired under a similar program.

Should a similar number of employees apply for the program this time, the company will face a 25 billion yen extraordinary charge to cover retirement allowances in the year through March 31, JT said.