A government advisory group recommends that Japan consider legislation to establish standards and rules for layoffs. A report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi by the Council for Regulatory Reform covers a wide range of subjects, including medical care, welfare and education. However, resolving the labor issue, which affects workers' basic rights and has stirred intense management-labor disputes, is likely to take a long time.
The report said proposed standards and rules, if established, would make it easier for management and labor to determine the legality of dismissals in advance. Existing labor standards require the employer to give a 30-day dismissal notice to employees. They also ban firing employees who are pregnant or who are recovering from injuries suffered on the job or from an infectious disease. No stipulations exist regarding dismissals for corporate job cuts.
Court rulings since the mid-1970s have established that dismissals are invalid unless (1) job cuts are deemed necessary, (2) sufficient efforts are made to avert dismissals, (3) employees targeted for dismissals are selected in a fair manner, and (4) management conducts adequate consultations with the labor union.