Dismissal will have a great impact on the lives of laborers
In order to mitigate the impact of sudden dismissal on the economic life of laborers, there are dismissal regulations in Japan. (Article 20 and 21 of the Labour Standards Law).
Dismissal notice allowance ( 解雇予告手当かいこよこくてあて)
About dismissal procedures:
- Employers are required to give employees 30 days’ notice of intent to dismiss. If the employer wishes to dismiss an employee without notice, then the employer must pay out 30 days wages at the time of dismissal, also known as a “notice allowance.
For example, in the case of dismissal on March 31, one must be notified by March 1 at the latest. (Dismissal days are not included in the number of notification days) - If the number of days in advance notice is less than 30 days, it is necessary to pay the average wage of the shortage of days as the cost of termination notice.
For example, if the employer issues a notice 10 days before the dismissal date, then the dismissal must be paid 20 days x average salary. - That is to say, if the employer issues the notice of dismissal 30 days in advance, the company does not need to pay the dismissal for the notice, but if it is notified 29 days ago, it will pay 1 day, 28 days before the notice, it will pay 2 days. An average salary of 30 days will be paid when it is an instant dismissal.
Note: Since not every company will inform the amount of the dismissal, it is necessary to check the amount when you receive the dismissal notice and confirm whether you have been dismissed improperly.
If you do not receive the dismissal notice allowance, you must also request for it.
However, if you are in the situation of violating the rules of employment (disciplinary dismissal ), and the court determines that the dismissal is reasonable, employers do not need to pay for dismissal notice allowance.
Therefore, the following workers are out of qualification
- Daily employees who have been employed for less than one month (those who continue to work for more than one month meet the qualification)
- If the contract period is less than two months and the working days does not exceed this period (if the working days exceeds the period specified in the contract, one will meet the qualification)
- Seasonal work within four months and the working days do not exceed this period (If the working days exceeds the period specified in the contract, one will meet the qualification)
- Workers who are under 14-day probation period (those who continue to work for more than 14 days will meet the qualification)
When can the employer dismiss the worker immediately without notice of dismissal
Under the following circumstances:
- Disasters and other inevitable reasons.
- Attributable to personal factors of employees (usually refers to “disciplinary dismissal” rather than “general dismissal”)
During the following period, the employer shall not dismiss the worker
- 30 days after the worker’s leave due to work injury or illness.
- The period of leave before and after childbirth and the next 30 days.
About notice of dismissal
- Dismissal refers to the company’s unilateral termination of the labor contract, and there is no legally prescribed method for notification of dismissal.That is to say, when the company announces the dismissal, it can be done verbally or in writing.
- The written notice of dismissal will record the name of the company, the name of the r representative, the date, the scheduled date of dismissal, the reason for dismissal, etc., and will include the seal of the company representative.When receiving the dismissal notice, the worker should first check whether the content of the dismissal notice is complete.
The benefits of requesting a notice of dismissal from the company
- If the company refuses to pay your dismissal, or if the reason for leaving the job is written as “personal intention to resign“, this notice of dismissal can be used as strong evidence.
- When the reason for resignation is “personal intention to resign”, it will not be conducive to apply for “unemployment allowance” in the future, so please be sure to obtain a notice of dismissal from the company.
- According to Article 22 of the Labour Standards Law, workers can obtain a certificate of reason for dismissal from the company after receiving the notice of dismissal or after leaving the company.
- The company must submit a certificate of reason for dismissal immediately after receiving the request.
- However, if the worker leaves the company for other reasons and is not dismissed, the company has no obligation to submit a certificate of reason for dismissal.
