JAPAN TODAY


 

TOKYO - More than 80 percent of Japanese operators hiring truck, bus and taxi drivers supervised by authorities last year were found to have breached labor rules, with illegal overtime work accounting for more than half of those violations, according to a recently released government survey.

Of the 5,436 operators supervised, the breaches were found at 4,564 locations, or 84 percent of the total, the labor ministry said, adding that 61 cases were especially serious violations of the Labor Standards Law and other regulations and were referred to prosecutors.

Automobile drivers will be exempted for five years from a legal overtime cap to be introduced at major firms in April next year but the findings revealed many of them are forced to work long hours.

Of the 4,564 operators, 58.2 percent, representing the biggest proportion, contravened labor time regulations, followed by 21.5 percent violating extra payment rules.

The survey found some truck drivers were on duty for about 320 hours per month, exceeding the basic upper limit of 293 hours set by the government.

The ministry also found some operators of expressway bus services made their drivers work longer than overtime caps set in their labor-management agreements.

Japan's labor law requires employers to reach a written agreement with workers and submit it to relevant authorities before prescribing overtime exceeding an eight-hour working day or a 40-hour working week.

Japanese professional drivers have been facing tougher working conditions on the back of intensifying price competition and a workforce shortage.

In January 2016, a ski tour bus from Tokyo careened off a road in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, killing 13 passengers and two drivers.

The Tokyo-based operator of the bus, ESP, was indicted Friday for illegally making some of its drivers work overtime without concluding a labor-management agreement.

© KYODO