The last celebration of the games in Tokyo, Japan was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan hosted the Olympics in 2021—a delay of one year due to the pandemic and executed with tight COVID restrictions. Despite the empty stands, the Olympic spirit for athletes and spectators (watching from home) endured.

The pandemic impacted workplaces around the globe. In Japan, one silver lining and a significant win for employers is that the pandemic accelerated the ability of employers to handle some employment matters online. This newfound flexibility allows employers to move certain employment-related processes away from paper.

In Japan, there are several mandatory labor and employment-related documents that must be filed with the government. For example, the Article 36 Agreement that sets the maximum overtime hours allowed at each office for non-exempt employees must be filed annually with the government. Traditionally, an employer needed to go to the local Labor Office for the filing. These days, however, most employment documents are allowed to be filed online by using the e-gov system. The government has set out many incentives to use the system (e.g., allowing an employer to skip its signature on the document for the online filing, allowing an employer to file the document for all of its offices at once at the company headquarters when using the online filing system). Accordingly, many employers are now using this online filing system.

A law that took effect in April 2023 is another change for employers since the Tokyo Olympics. The law allows salary payment via digital wallets without funding through banks. Traditionally, payment by cash or bank account transfer was allowed. Under the new law, subject to concluding the Labor Management Agreement (i.e., collective agreement between an employee representative and an employer) and individual consent, salary payment via digital wallets is permissible through an approved vendor. The government, however, has not yet issued approval to any vendor.

Japanese employment laws are very protective of employees, and many laws that provide further protections to employees have been enacted in recent years. The most significant change resulting in a win for employees has been the extension of entitlements based on child-raising status. For example, Japan already had generous maternity/childcare leave available both to a mother and a father up to one year until the child reaches age one, which can be further extended to until the child reaches age two when conditions are met. The recent new laws have added more flexibility and entitlements such as adding four weeks of more flexible paternity leave, allowing an employee to take parental time off (five days/year) on a one-hour increment basis, and abolishing the minimum tenure requirement for some entitlements.

Finally, the most recent new law that will take effect April 2025 will require an employer to extend special treatment options such as reduced working hours, which is currently available for employees with children up to age three. The new law will extend these benefits until the child enters elementary school (age six).

Closing Ceremony

While there is one last jam-packed weekend in the Paris schedule for athletes and spectators alike, Littler’s celebration of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games must come to a close. We hope you have enjoyed the retrospective highlighting some key labor and employment developments from around the globe.