Hey everyone,
[I have a follow up question from a previous post](https://old.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/14q4yk4/employer_is_changing_my_contracted_coworkers/).
My coworker is still being badgered into changing her contract that she doesn’t want. It has gotten to the point where she is feeling that she is being forced to quit because of how awful her proposed new contract is, because it seems that they are not letting her refuse the contract. There was a point that she mentioned that I wanted to get some advice on as she’s trying to keep notes.
This is what the company wants her new daily work schedule to look like:
9am~12pm work
12pm~1pm lunch break (unpaid)
1pm~3pm commuting to a different school (unpaid)
3pm~8pm work
She noted that they expect her to commute from School A to School B from 1pm~3pm, but they said that she won’t be paid for that time. Also, they are saying that they will not pay for buses for her commute as well. While she is not going to accept the position, she is now in a position that she feels she has to resign from her current job because of how things have unfolded. She is very worried about what will happen if and when she refuses this dog shit contract.
Is that commuting situation legal? Is she protected from rejecting the proposed new contract? She wants to know in the event she needs to take things to a third party. Thanks in advance for the help.
Edit: Thank you for the advice everyone. I referred my coworker to the post, so I think she has a better idea of how to handle things. I will post an update whenever she ends up making her decision, which I’m 99% is that she will refuse and possibly even give notice. Stay tuned next time on Dragon Ball Z!
8 comments
Not a lawyer, but I believe that they cannot just unilaterally change contracts.
That being said, if her previous contract is running out that’s a separate issue. There are some protections for contractors, e.g. if they’re ~~treated as a seishain they can be automatically turned into one, but I believe that takes like 5 years working there(again, not a lawyer, just pointing out things you could look into)~~ working there 5 years. they can request and must receive a permanent contract(editted as per responses). If she’s just been at the job as a contractor for a year and the first contract is running out, she MIGHT be out of luck on getting the existing contract renewed.
But there is also the issue of whether the new contract is even legal. This( https://roudou-pro.com/columns/371/ ) random article I found from google suggests that it is considered working hours “if you are under the orders of your employer”. Making a case for them being outside of it does seem dubious to me. The article does however point out that if you’re free to use your time as you want during that movement(like reading a book, browsing the internet etc) and are not expected to act on company orders, it can be outside working hours.
As to lack of payment for the commuting, the tsuukinteate is not a legal requirement, just a common fukuri kousei. But again, if the commuting time is included as part of the work, costs would have to be covered?
It really seems like the employers prospective legal defense(which I’m not sure if it holds water or not) is that she is not under company orders at the time. Morally/logically it seems pretty bad, legally I don’t know. Personally I’d say it’s time to try and find a better place.
**First of all,** ***NEVER*** **resign on your own behalf!!**
If you do, you lose basically ALL benefits which would have come with a lost job (Since you yourself willingly chose to quit).
It is better if she refuse the new contract and ask for a new and better one (I assume she is currently employed and still have time on her contract?).
If the employer decides to refuse then the current contract is still in place, and she can work out the time as she is now while looking for a new job.
If she does get fired, then that falls on the employer, not on the employee, and she will get benefits from the state to (I believe its up to 80% of pay for x amount of months, then it goes lower. The details are hazy.)
She should talk to the labour board
I’ve been in two situations where I was required to commute between schools in the middle of the work day. The first one they paid me gas mileage that was much, MUCH more than the amount I’d actually be spending on gas, and at the second one they simply counted it as part of the work day (and also paid me extra for it.)
Even when I worked at Nova, they always paid us for the time it took us to go to another branch in the middle of the day, so yes, I would say they have to pay for her commuting time if it’s in the middle of her schedule.
If she was assigned to a different location for the entire day, then just the actual travel cost would be paid, not the commuting time even if it were longer than her usual commute.
Nova pretty much only does things when they are legally required to so, therefore if they paid, it must be the law lol
I think it’s illegal, here’s a link that may provide you information
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/soudanmadogutitou/
I mean. In that case just put people on commutes on “dead” time and save money sounds shady as balls to me.
I’d say this is could be a violation of Article 38 of the ‘labor standards act’: https://elaws.e-gov.go.jp/document?lawid=322AC0000000049
>第三十八条 労働時間は、事業場を異にする場合においても、労働時間に関する規定の適用については通算する。
If you see here (https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/hokkaido-roudoukyoku/content/contents/000986050.pdf) on page 3 it outlines “the concept of working hours”
Notice 3(1):
>The time at which the operator instructed to perform preparatory actions necessary for the job ordered to work
She can only complete the job ordered to work (teach at schoolB) by performing preparatory action (commute from schoolA to SchoolB)
Therefore, just should be considered work time. Which then as per Article 38 of the labor standards act aggregates it.
Meaning she would be working 9am to 8pm (10 hours when you exclude lunch) which would be 50 hours per week. Which would then exceed the maximum 40 hours meaning the extra hours should be at an overtime rate too.
If she has this contact in writing she should take it to a lawyer for professional opinion/action, or at least consult the General Union. The GU would love this.