Bill to Promote Women and Prevent “Power Harassment” at the Workplace
Proposed Bill or Initiative
On March 8, 2019, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) submitted a draft proposal to Congress, to amend the Act to Promote Women in Workplace. If approved, the amendments would (i) require employers with more than 100 employees to disclose the employer’s plan to promote women in the workplace, which was previously required only for the employer with more than 300 employees, and (ii) require the employer to take appropriate measures to prevent “power harassment” (i.e., bullying) at the workplace.
Promote Employment of Employees with Disabilities
Proposed Bill or Initiative
On March 19, 2019, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) submitted a draft proposal to Congress, to amend the Act to Promote Employment of Employees with Disability. Currently, employers with at least 45.5 employees (some part-time employees are counted as 0.5) are required to hire at least one employee with disability. If approved, the law will create governmental subsidies and make them available to employers as an incentive to hire full-time and part-time employees with disability. Further, to boost the rate of employment of employees with disability among small employers, the government will give a special certificate to those small employers who do well in that regard.
