DPJ Non-Regular Employment Measures Project Team Leader Ritsuo Hosokawa
Project Team Secretary General Masao Kobayashi

The DPJ plans to submit the following 4 bills, which focus on the 5 measures listed below, to the current Diet session. The bills are listed in their planned order of enactment.
(1) Restrictions on job offer withdrawals: Bill to restrict job offer withdrawals (to be effective from the day of issue)
-　This bill would clarify that withdrawals of job offers to students are void unless the withdrawal is based on objective, rational reasons that are consistent with socially accepted norms (Bill to restrict job offer withdrawals).
-　In particularly malevolent cases, the government would be required to publish the name of the offending company.

(2) Expanding the scope of employment adjustment subsidies to cover non-regular workers: Special measures bill related to the prevention of the termination of contracts for dispatch workers and other workers (to be effective from 2 weeks after issue)
-　The DPJ would help prevent employers from failing to renew the employment of contract workers by implementing emergency measures to relax the conditions and extend the period of payment for employment adjustment subsidies paid to businesses that hire workers.

(3) Accommodation and welfare support for former dispatch workers searching for employment: Bill to support contract worker accommodation and employment (to be effective from 1 month after issue)
-　Providing support for former dispatch workers who have lost their place of accommodation through contract non-renewal or termination, and providing support for unemployed people who are struggling as they are not eligible to receive unemployment benefit are 2 pressing issues. This bill will provide accommodation and welfare payments for such individuals together with work training and job introductions.
-　Such accommodation will be made available through the use of koyo-sokushin (employment promotion) housing, public housing, and private rental apartments (including one-room apartments).
-　The maximum monthly welfare loan shall be up to 100,000 yen. Persons meeting certain conditions will not have to repay the loans.
-　These measures will be implemented under the jurisdiction of the Employment Stability Program, one of two employment insurance programs (amendment to the Employment Insurance Law).
-　Personnel dispatch companies renting accommodation to dispatch workers will be encouraged not to demand the immediate eviction of workers they no longer employ. Businesses which continue to provide such former employees with accommodation for a certain period of time will receive rent subsidies (amendment to the Employment Insurance Law).

(4) Providing a safety net and employment through expansion of the Employment Insurance System: Bill to amend the Employment Insurance Law (to be enacted in April 2009)
-　Currently, workers may be ineligible for employment insurance if there is a clause in their contract allowing unconditional non-renewal if they have worked for less than a year. This bill will ensure that everyone is eligible for insurance regardless of any non-renewal clause.
-　The Bill will also reduce the minimum insured period required to receive benefits from 12 months to 6 months.
-　Workers who have lost their jobs due to contract non-renewal will be recognized as involuntarily unemployed people.
-　The bill will increase the basic daily unemployment benefit payment and extend the payment period for certain involuntarily unemployed people.
-　The amount of special lump sum payments will be increased from the equivalent of 40 days basic benefit payment to the equivalent of 60 days basic benefit payment.
-　The Bill will maintain the current state contribution to employment insurance and the insurance premium rate will not be increased.

(Note) (3) and (4) scheduled to be submitted together under the same bill.

(5) Clearer rules on the signing, renewal and termination of limited-term Labor Contracts: (Fixed-term contract adherence bill) (to be enacted not more than 1 year after issue)
-　The Bill will make mid-contract terminations basically void as well as establishing regulations governing reasons signing fixed-term labor contracts (as opposed to permanent contracts), the prohibition of discriminatory practices against contract workers, procedures for terminating the employment of contract workers, and procedures for the retirement of and contract non-renewal for contract workers.

*The DPJ's basic stance and the outline of the 4 bills above can be found in Japanese by clicking on the links below.

Downloads (Japanese Only)
DPJ: Restrictions on Job Offer Withdrawals: Outline of Bill to Partially Amend the Labor Contract Law
http://www.dpj.or.jp/news/files/1.pdf

DPJ: Outline of Special Measures Bill Related to the Prevention of the Termination of Contracts for Dispatch Workers and other workers (provisional name)
http://www.dpj.or.jp/news/files/2.pdf

DPJ: Bill for Securing Accommodations and Employments (Outline of Bill to Partially Amend the Employment Insurance Law)
http://www.dpj.or.jp/news/files/3.pdf

DPJ: Fixed-Term Contract Adherence Bill (Outline of Bill to Partially Amend the Labor Contract Law)
http://www.dpj.or.jp/news/files/4.pdf