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Resignation is the termination of labor services due to the unilateral expression of such an intent by the employee. This can be divided into voluntary retirement, agreed retirement and mandatory retirement due to reaching the retirement age. There are no provisions in the Labor Standards Act in regard to the retirement procedure. When the parties concerned did not stipulate the related regulations in the rules of employment, collective agreement, etc., the provisions of the Civil Act shall apply. ◎ According to the Civil Act, when the employee expresses his intention to resign (submission of letter of resignation) and the employer accepts (acceptance of letter of resignation), the resignation becomes effective when the employer accepts the letter of resignation. ◎ If the company does not accept the letter of resignation of the employee, the point at which the resignation becomes effective shall differ according to the method in which the wages are paid. When the wages are paid on a term-basis, such as monthly, and if, after the term in which the resignation has been submitted (that month, in the case of monthly payment system), one wage payment term (meaning the next month) has passed, the resignation becomes effective. When wages are not paid on a term-basis, the effect begins when one month has passed after the employer receives notification from the employee of his/her will to resign.

Article 26 of the Labor Standards Act prescribes that when an employer intends to dismiss an employee (including dismissal for management reasons), he/she shall give the employee a notice of dismissal at least 30 days in advance of such dismissal, and, if the employer fails to give such advance notice, he/she shall pay such employee 30 days' ordinary wage at the least. ◎ The period for advance notice of dismissal must be calculated based on calendar days instead of working days, and therefore cannot be extended even when there is a holiday. When calculating, the first day is not included and calculation shall begin from the following day based on calendar days. If even one day is lacking during the legal period for advance notification of dismissal, regular wages pertaining to 30 days - the entire statutory period - or more must be paid.

According to Article 61 of the Labor Standards Act, the employer is to inform each employee of unused paid leave, and urge the employee in written form to notify the period for using the leave. The employee that has received such a notice/letter must determine the period for using the leave, and if he/she does not, the employer shall prescribe the period for using the unused paid leave, and notify the employee "in written form". ◎ The regulation that the employer must urge or notify the employee in "written form" is to ensure that measures to promote the use of paid leave are surely implemented, and the intention is to strengthen protection of workers' rights and prevent conflict between parties due to unclear measures. Notifying employees with use of intra-company email, or posting official notifications on the non-used paid leave of each employee on the company bulletin board cannot be recognized as clear measures in comparison to urging or notifying "in written form" to each individual employee. ※Measures to urge or notify the use of paid leave is not an obligation for the employer. Therefore, when the employer has not taken measures to urge or notify the use of paid leave, and the employee does not designate a period for using paid leave and does not use the paid leave, annual paid leave allowance must be paid for the unused leave.

Holidays can be divided into legal holidays and contractual holidays according to whether it is legally binding for the employer to grant them or not. Legal holidays include weekends, Labor Day, and public holidays of government offices. Holidays for government offices include national holidays, and are granted to public servants. Consequently, in the case of private companies, company regulations and collective agreements have been used to establish contractual holidays. ◎ On March 20, 2018, the Labor Standards Act was revised, so that holidays can apply identically to private companies. However, it shall be implemented phase-by-phase according to the size of the company. Companies with at least 300 full time employees: January 1, 2020 Companies with 30-299 employees: January 1, 2021 Companies with 5-29 employees: January 1, 2022

The Designation of Workers' Day Act prescribes that "The first day of May each year shall be designated as Workers' Day, which shall be a paid holiday under the Labor Standards Act." ◎ A "paid holiday" is a day on which there is no obligation to provide labor service, while receiving a payment that would have been received if the labor had been accomplished. ◎ When labor is provided on Workers' Day, a paid holiday, an additional 150 percent of pay for holiday labor shall be made in addition to the wage (100 percent) that would have been paid out, even if there was no labor service on that day, as per Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act. ※ “Workers' Day” is a legal holiday, and is prescribed as a special day to commemorate a certain fact, and therefore this holiday cannot be replaced with another day.

According to Article 54 of the Labor Standards Act, an employer shall allow employees a recess of not less than 30 minutes where work hours are four hours, and a recess of not less than one hour where work hours are eight hours. Recess hours may be freely used by employees. ◎ According to the Labor Standards Act, "recess" refers to break time, waiting time, etc., during which the employee leaves the sphere of instruction and monitoring by the employer and spends the time freely. ◎ If the employee leaves the sphere of instruction and monitoring by the employer and spends the break time as he/she wishes, lunch time can be regarded as recess.

The causes for terminating a labor contract are as follows: 1) The termination is made based on the will or intent of the employee (retirement: voluntary retirement, mandatory retirement); 2) The service is terminated without the consent, or against the intent, of the worker (dismissal: regular dismissal, dismissal as part of punishment, dismissal due to a management reason); 3) The employment relationship ends regardless of the intent of the employee and employer (automatic dissipation: expiration of contract period, completion of project, death of worker, termination of company) ◎ For contracts with a defined period, or contracts with a term as prescribed in the subparagraphs of Article 4(1) of the Act on the Protection etc. of Fixed Term and Part-Time Employees, when the term of the labor contract is terminated, in principle, the labor service is terminated unless there are special circumstances that render otherwise. ◎ Therefore, if the contract period expires, there is no obligation for management to send out an advance dismissal notice. However, making a pre-notice may reduce the possibility of conflict between the parties, as it announces that the labor service shall be terminated with the expiration of the work period.

The matters discussed and decided by the Labor-Management Consultation Council are prescribed in Article 20 (Matters for Consultation), Article 21 (Matters for Resolution) and Article 22 (Matters for Reporting) of the Act on the Promotion of Workers' Participation and Cooperation. Matters for Consultation (Article 20) – Improvement of productivity and distribution of attained results – Recruitment, placement, education, and training of workers – Resolution of workers' grievances – Improvements in working environment such as safety and welfare; promotion of workers' health – Improvement of human resources and labor management systems – Adjustment of general employment rules, such as manpower repositioning, retraining, and dismissal for managerial or technological reasons – Administration of work hours and break times – Improvement of systems, such as wage payment method and structure – Introduction of new machinery and technologies; improvement of work processes – Establishment or amendment of work/operation rules – Employee stock ownership plan and other assistance to build workers' assets – Matters on remuneration for an employee invention, etc. – Improvement of workers' welfare – Installation of surveillance equipment for workers within a workplace – Protection of motherhood for female workers; assistance in balancing work and home life – Prevention of sexual harrassment in the workplace or sexual harrassment by customers, as per subparagraph 2 of Article 2 of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work Family Balance Assistance Act – Other matters regarding cooperation between labor and management Matters for Resolution (Article 21) – Establishment of a basic plan for education/training and capability development of workers – Establishment and management of welfare facilities – Establishment of an in-house employee welfare fund – Matters that are not resolved by the grievance handling committee – Establishment of various labor-management joint committees Matters for Reporting (Article 22) – Matters concerning overall management plans and actual results – Matters concerning quarterly production plans and actual results – Matters concerning manpower plans – Economic and financial conditions of the enterprise

Article 6 of the Act on the Promotion of Workers' Participation and Cooperation states that a council shall be composed of the same number of members representing workers and employers, and each number of members shall be not less than three but not more than 10 persons. Also, Article 12(1) of the same Act states that a council shall hold meetings regularly every three months. ◎ The labor-management council meetings shall open with the attendance of the respective majorities of autonomously elected (commissioned) workers' members and employers' members. If the meeting fails to be held on the ground deemed not to be the fault of the employers, such as workers' failure to elect workers' members, it does not constitute failure to fulfil the obligation to hold the labormanagement council meeting set by Article 12(1) of the same Act. ◎ Article 10(1) of the same Act states that any employer shall neither intervene in nor interfere with an election of workers' members. However, if the labor-management council is not organized for reasons such as workers' reluctance to elect the workers' members, the employer should make reasonable efforts to inform through internal communications and company notice boards the need of the labor-management council and autonomous election of the workers' members. If needed, the employer should make reasonable efforts such as asking the regional employment and labor agency governing the concerned workplace to support the workers' members' election.

A labor-management council refers to a consultative body formed to help promote peace in industry and to contribute to the development of the national economy by increasing common interests of labor and management through mutual participation and cooperation by workers and employers under Article 1 of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation. According to Article 4 of the same Act, the labor-management council shall be established at each business or workplace which is vested with the right to decide working conditions: Provided, That this shall not apply to any business or workplace employing less than 30 people on a regular basis. ◎ A trade union refers to an organization aimed at maintaining and improving the working conditions of workers and enhancing their economic and social status by guaranteeing the rights of association, collective bargaining, and collective action as prescribed in the Constitution, and contributing to the maintenance of industrial peace and the development of the national economy by preventing and resolving industrial disputes through the fair adjustment of the labor relations under Article 1 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. According to Article 5 of the same Act, workers shall be free to establish a trade union or to join it: ◎ The labor-management council represents all workers in activities that promote the common interests of labor and management, and in consultations or decisions for labor and management. In contrast, the trade union represents its members in collective bargaining and making a collective agreement for maintenance and improvement of working conditions. Particularly, the rights to collective actions such as industrial actions are guaranteed for the trade union.