(tl;dr at the end)
Hi,
A strange situation has occurred, and I want to briefly talk about it. I don’t know what I can do in this situation and wanted to consult with you.
For about three and a half years, I was working as a software developer at a startup company in Japan. It was a small company, and the number of employees never exceeded 10. It was a software company and sold software products both in Japan and globally. I had a full-time contract with the company.
Our boss was a foreigner with Japanese nationality and he left Japan with his family a while ago. He said he would reside in another country temporarily and would manage the company remotely during this period, occasionally returning to Japan. However, since he left, the seriousness of the company began to decline, and employee salaries started to be delayed or paid partially. As a result, employees began to leave the company. I was one of the last ones remaining; I had many missing amount of salaries, but I did not mind it much because I thought we had a close relationship, and he promised to pay all my back salaries at once and also with bonus payments.
In the meantime, letters from law firms about debt lawsuits occasionally arrived at the company. As far as I understand, the company failed to fulfil its agreements with other companies, and lawsuits were filed, resulting in significant debt. A year ago, he also closed the company’s office and said we would have to work remotely until a new office was rented. We continued like this for a while, but my salary payments were significantly lacking, and I was in a critical situation. After some time, he completely cut off communication with us, and we could not reach him through any channel. I waited a little longer, but the situation remained the same.
This was the first time I encountered such a situation because I started my life in Japan by working at this company. To be honest, I became sick many times for this company. I loved my job and I remember sleeping at the office 14 days a month, (don’t do this stupidity) and the boss knew about this. I literally could not believe he cut all the connections. I am such a stupid waited for this long.
Finally, I was advised to go to Hello Work. I have been there many times and also went to the Foreign Workers’ Advisory Office in Tokyo a few times. However, each time they said there was no company and boss to speak of. Things were very difficult for me; I couldn’t even manage to quit because my boss didn’t read my resignation letter. I had all the papers that I can, payslips, chat histories, unpaid salaries, banking documents etc. I have been in contact with Hello Work for about 2-3 months; they will create a resignation letter for me. I also applied for unemployment benefits, but everything got so complicated that even Hello Work can’t fully help me. Because my boss sometimes paid my unemployment insurance and sometimes did not. He also made incomplete payments for my other insurances. For a while, I even thought about suicide . Because for months, I was helpless. Even Japanese authorities can not help me, everytime I go to a Hello Work, or wherever they direct me city ward, non-employment consultancy bureaus etc. I return home with zero help. I did not give much details but before the unpaid salaries situation started, I moved to a new location. You know it costs a lot moving in and out in Japan.
Anyways, after I understood that he would not communicate or pay even one yen, I started to search for a new job, and I am about to make a deal with a company. However, they asked me for a document called “Ao Iro Shinkoku.” I suppose it’s required because I will sign a contract with this company, not on a full-time basis. Our agreement was that the previous company I worked for would pay my residence tax, but the residence tax for the last year has not been paid, and my insurance payments have not been made for 6 months. What should I do in this situation? I need to obtain the Ao Iro Shinkoku document to enter the new company, and I suppose I need to have no tax debts for this document. Could you enlighten me on this matter? Thank you in advance.
# TL;DR
I worked at an IT company for over 3 and half years. Boss was a foreigner with Japanese nationality and he left Japan with his family and cut the connection with the employee after a while. Now there are unpaid salaries, unpaid residence taxes, and unpaid non-employment insurance. I have to find a new job and I did, but they are requesting Ao Iro Shinkoku from me. Never heard about it, I was a full-time employee previously. This time I’m gonna be a contractor-based employee. I need advisory help.
by mugen_______