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Interview with Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant

We interviewed Mr. Tanaka, a Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant, as we wanted to hear from people who are actually familiar with work-related laws and issues.

Job Description of Public Consultant on Social and Labor Insurance

First, based on the knowledge which we obtained in the preliminary survey, he explained us about the histiry if labor. To begin with, the Social Security System Council was established by the Ministry of Health and Welfare(at that time) in 1950, and as a result of the deliberations, "public assistance", "public health", "social welfare", and "social insurance" were defined as the four pillars of social security. Social insurance is mainly divided into "Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance" and "employment insurance".

Worker's compensation

The jurisdiction is the Labor Standards Inspection Office. This rule applies when there is an inherent risk of injury during work or commuting, or of developing a work-related disease. Since all wage earners are covered, non-regular employees such as part-time workers and illegal residents are also covered.

Worker's compensation insurance does not apply to employers, and the employer pays all insurance premiums.

Employment insurance

Employment insurance is paid by the worker, not by the employer (a deduction of 0.3% from a worker's salary).

Those who work more than 20 hours a week are eligible, and in order to receive benefits, it is necessary to go through prescribed procedures at Hello Work (employment security office).

Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant are engaged in practical work related to "social insurance" out of four pillars and are recognized as a business. "Be required to perform appropriate" "Shall be carried out smoothly" "Sound development of business and improvement of welfare of workers, etc." "to maintain one's dignity ― maintain one's dignity" "familiarity with law and practice" "To be fair and sincere".

Based on the conditions such as working hours per day, a company worker decides how far the insurance is applied and takes care of the procedures at each government office which has jurisdiction over various types of insurance. However, nowadays, procedures are often done on behalf of applicants through an application site on the Internet.

Details of the job

In the "Sound development of business and improvement of welfare of workers, etc." which is one of the obligations of company workers, workers are called "etc.,". "Etc." refers to all workers, including the unemployed. In addition, since "Business" includes not only profit-making companies but also public special corporations, it can be seen that workers are involved in a wide range of work operations.

and so on. It can also be said that a company worker is a legal profession in order to perform his/her duties according to the law as mentioned above.

In addition, there is a qualification called "Specified Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant" which allows a lawyer to not only make a statement as an assistant to a lawyer, but also to work for some lawyers. In order to obtain qualifications, it is necessary to take examinations and practical training, and Article 72 of the Lawyers Law was amended.

Details of consultation actually received by workers

Workers receive consultation, guidance and advice on labor issues, and we asked them what kind of consultation they receive.

First of all, although both large enterprises and small and medium enterprises have a common point of having many consultations on harassment, there is a difference in the tendency of the consultation contents.

He said that while there are few consultations related to dismissal at large companies, there are many consultations on how to respond when workers return to work and on unfair personnel evaluation. On the other hand, I heard that there are many consultations from small and medium enterprises with the following contents.

Reform of working styles

When We interviewed him about the outline of the "Reform of working styles" he said that the ultimate goal was to reduce long working hours and to narrow the wage gap between regular and non-regular employees.

In the first place, the current situation in Japan is that long working hours are prevalent internationally. Furthermore, in the "labor productivity" which shows sales per worker, Japan ranks 19th, so it can be said that the problem is low productivity for the number of working hours. He said that if labor productivity does not improve, the government can aim to shorten working hours and value "Work-Life Balance".

We also asked for your opinion about the discretionary work system among the contents covered on this site. We believe that if companies abuse the discretionary working system, long working hours will be encouraged and the working environment will not improve. However, our company workers also said that the discretionary working system is "One wrong step is a loophole."

One of the reasons for this was that setting a "deemed time" could lead to discrepancies between actual working hours and actual working hours. On the other hand, in order to prevent such a situation as much as possible, it is mandatory to submit documents to the Chief of the Labor Standards Office when establishing the deemed time. Based on the submitted documents, the Labor Standards Inspection Office (Labor Standards Office) conducts audits to prevent karoshi deaths.

About the Definition of "Black Companies"

Next, we asked about the definition of "Black Companies" which has become a hot topic recently. "Black companies" is a Japanese term which means a company which does not care about the employers and trear them terribly. Although there is no legal definition of "Black Companies" and there are individual differences in perception, therefore, it is difficult to generalize. However, as a certified social worker,he thinks that companies that meet the following conditions may fall under the category of "Black Companies".

First of all, if companies do not comply with the law, it can harm the health of workers. And the constant recruitment of new workers means that there is no end to the number of people who left the company. For this reason, new employees are left without sufficient training. However, if a worker makes a mistake, they may be blamed for the poor working environment. Therefore, such companies can be said to be "Black Companies". Furthermore, because the rules of employment at each workplace are established to improve the working environment and to respect workers as human beings, companies that do not comply with them may be seen as having no intention to improve working conditions.

About telecommuting

We thought that Telework could provide a relatively flexible and diverse way of working, and asked him about the actual situation. He told us that there are many countries where Telework is being introduced, but as stated in the article on "Telework" on this site, there are very few companies in Japan that are implementing or considering Telework.

The reason for this is that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare requires companies to manage their working hours properly. The obligation to know working hours is also stipulated in legal precedents (Judgment of the Supreme Court) and the Industrial Safety and Health Law.

In order to manage working hours, it is required to record specific times of the day when work starts, ends, and stops. Similar obligations for telecommuting on holidays and for personal time (private) can make this type of strict time management a deterrent to many companies.

He also mentioned that the introduction of telecommuting may not be widespread in Japan because of the following six issues.

Thank you for be interviewed Mr.Tanaka. We appreciate with you.