Comparison with Japan

There are fewer employment laws in Japan than in many Western countries. Few workers are given clear job descriptions or written contracts and it is unusual for an employee to take legal action against his employer. The main law about sexual discrimination simply asks employers to make efforts to reduce discrimination, without imposing clear duties or penalties. However, as in other aspects of Japanese society, it is not clear if the low level of legal activity necessarily means that employees have fewer rights. It certainly seems to be the case that workers have to work very long hours and often do not ask for overtime payment. Despite the current labor shortage, which has encouraged employers to hire women to do more responsible and better paid work than before, very few women enjoy equal employment opportunities. In addition, many jobs remain closed to workers of non-Japanese origin, even those who have lived all their lives in Japan. On the other hand, Japanese workers enjoy more security than many employees in western countries. Once hired, they are unlikely to be dismissed. Insurance benefits and recreational facilities are usually made available to them by their companies, and many workers are able to live in big cities only because their employers provide low-cost accommodation for them. One legal development in Japan which has yet to spread to western countries is law suits against the employers of workers who had died of karoushi- nota specific accident in the workplace or industrial-related disease, but general stress brought about by overwork. In 1992, the widow of a Mitsui Company employee was awarded ¥30 million in compensation after a court learned that her husband had been spending 103 days a year away from home on stressful business trips before his sudden death.

Post-reading tasks:

1. List eight employee rights which have developed in industrialized countries.

2. True or false?

a) Small companies in Britain need not rehire an employee who leaves to have a baby.

b) EC law is of no benefit to workers in Britain.

c) All EC workers have minimum wage laws.

d) Striking workers cannot bedismissed in Britain if a majority of them have agreed to the strike in a secret vote.

3. What disadvantages do many Japanese workers face?

4. What benefits do many Japanese workers enjoy?

5. Choose the best answer:

1. Before the industrialization most people worked on

a) the factory

b) the land

c) on the land and some craft connected with agriculture

2. Employment rights depended upon

a) formal agreements

b) strict father morality

c) employers and informal agreements

3. Governments began to see the need for legislation in order

a) to recognize the rights of farm workers

b) to standardize rights and conditions

c) to limit working hours and ages

4. English law makes a clear distinction between

a) workers and farmers

b) employees and self-employed people

c) men and women

5. People complaining of discrimination have the right

a) to take their cases to the Appellate Court

b) to take their cases to the Crown Court

c) to take their cases to the Industrial Tribunal

6. Finish the following sentences:

a) EC Law didn’t prevent member countries from…..

b) Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act requires that…..

c) Sex Discrimination Act attempts to ensure…..

d) Unfair Dismissal Tribunal sometimes rules…..

e) European Court ruled that although different ages for receiving retirement pension were legal…..

f) Shops Act limits Sunday trading in Britain partly for…..

g) When Britain had a high record of strikes in 1970s, it was sometimes said that there were …..

Listening 2. Listen to the lecture on types of employment and answer the following questions.

a) What are the two types of employment?

b) What are the methods to differentiate types of employment?

c) What are the advantages of being an employee?

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