Act on Improvement of Personnel Management and Conversion of Employment Status for Part-Time Workers and Fixed-Term Workers

短時間労働者及び有期雇用労働者の雇用管理の改善等に関する法律（たんじかんろうどうしゃおよびゆうきこようろうどうしゃのこようかんりのかいぜんとうにかんするほうりつ）

Balanced treatment for part-time and fixed-term workers: no unreasonable gap in pay and other treatment between them and the employer's workers with a standard employment status, an explanation of any gap on request, a way into standard employment, and help from the director of the prefectural labour bureau in settling disputes.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 32
Amendments on the way: 1

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What this law does

For base pay, bonuses and each other item of treatment, one by one, an employer must not set a difference between its part-time and fixed-term workers (短時間・有期雇用労働者) and its workers with a standard employment status (通常の労働者) that is found unreasonable. Whether it is unreasonable is judged by those circumstances that fit the nature and purpose of that item of treatment — among them the workers' duties and the level of responsibility that comes with them (職務の内容), and how far their duties and assignment may change.(Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

Where a part-time or fixed-term worker has the same duties and responsibility as a worker with a standard employment status, and — judged by the workplace's practice and other circumstances — their duties and assignment are expected to change within the same range as that worker's for the whole time until the employment ends, the employer must not discriminate against them (差別的取扱い) in base pay, bonuses or any other item of treatment on the ground that they are part-time or fixed-term.(Art. 9(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
When a part-time or fixed-term worker asks, the employer must explain to them what differences in treatment there are between them and workers with a standard employment status and why, and what it took into account in deciding the matters Articles 6 to 13 require it to take measures on. The employer must not dismiss the worker, or treat them in any other disadvantageous way, because they asked.(Art. 14(2), Art. 14(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
On hiring a part-time or fixed-term worker, the employer must promptly state to them, in a document or by another means a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order allows, the working conditions such an Order specifies beyond those an Order under Article 15(1) of the Labor Standards Act already lists. It must also promptly explain to them the measures it has decided to take on the matters Articles 8 to 13 cover, other than the working conditions those two Orders already list.(Art. 6(1), Art. 14(1), Labor Standards Act Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
To further conversion into workers with a standard employment status — being hired as one at the workplace where they work — the employer must take one of these measures: when recruiting such a worker, make the job's work, wages, hours and other terms known to its part-time and fixed-term workers at that workplace, for instance by a notice posted there; when newly assigning such a worker to a post, give its part-time and fixed-term workers at that workplace a chance to apply for it; or set up a conversion test for qualified part-time and fixed-term workers, or another measure furthering conversion.(Art. 13(1), Art. 13(1)(i), Art. 13(1)(ii), Art. 13(1)(iii), Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Training an employer gives its workers with a standard employment status to equip them for their job must also be given to part-time and fixed-term workers with the same duties (other than those Article 9 covers), except in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, such as where they already have the abilities the job needs. Welfare facilities of the kinds such an Order lists as serving health or the smooth running of work must be open to part-time and fixed-term workers (again other than those Article 9 covers) where workers with a standard employment status may use them.(Art. 11(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 10(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

Part-time and fixed-term workersUnreasonable differences in treatmentWorkers equivalent to standard employeesExplaining differences in treatmentWritten working conditionsConversion to standard employmentSettling disputes

32 99 10 16 19

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . This law has 1 amendment on the way — , but . Its amendment history is below. The amendments this site has read the changes of are on this law's amendments page, provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

1 October 2026

in 4 days

Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives, etc.

労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

The whole text as it will read, on e-Gov

See what it changes (2 provisions)

5 amendments already in force

1 June 2020
The text on this site
Act Partially Amending the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, etc.
女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2020
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform
働き方改革を推進するための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2019
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform
働き方改革を推進するための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
6 July 2018
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform
働き方改革を推進するための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2015
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Part-time workers (短時間労働者): workers whose prescribed weekly working hours are shorter than those of the same employer's workers with a standard employment status — or, where the worker does the same kind of work as such a worker, shorter than those of the workers with a standard employment status in that kind of work, except in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Fixed-term workers (有期雇用労働者): workers who have a labor contract with a fixed term with an employer. The definition sets no condition on working hours.(Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

3 more

Employers (事業主) that employ part-time or fixed-term workers carry the Act's duties towards them, and are to try to secure them treatment in balance with workers with a standard employment status through proper working conditions, training, welfare, conversion into standard employment and other improvements in how they are employed, taking account of how they actually work.(Art. 3(1), Art. 6(1), Art. 8(1), Art. 9(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Employers' organizations (事業主の団体) are to try to give their member employers the advice, cooperation and other help they need on these workers' employment management.(Art. 3(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The national government is to try to support employers and promote these workers' welfare, and local governments to try to promote measures for these workers' welfare alongside it; the national government, the prefectures and the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers are to try to raise awareness of developing their vocational abilities, and to give special consideration to vocational training, for them and for those seeking such work.(Art. 4(1), Art. 4(2), Art. 20(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

It does not apply to

National and local public servants, and seafarers (船員) as defined in Article 6(1) of the Mariners Employment Security Act, a separate Act.(Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (7)

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets guidelines (指針) for carrying out the measures of Articles 6 to 14 and the employer's other measures under Article 3(1), after hearing the Labour Policy Council, and publishes them.(Art. 15(1), Art. 15(2), Art. 5(4), Art. 5(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
The employer must have the system needed for answering and properly dealing with its part-time and fixed-term workers' consultations about their employment management. When such a worker complains about a matter in Article 6(1), 8, 9, 11(1) or 12 to 14, the employer is to try to settle it itself, for instance by referring it to a grievance body made up of representatives of the employer and of the workers at that workplace.(Art. 16(1), Art. 22(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where it finds it necessary, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may require an employer of part-time or fixed-term workers to report, and may give it advice, guidance or a recommendation. A Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order may hand part of this power to the director of a prefectural labour bureau (都道府県労働局長).(Art. 18(1), Art. 18(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
If an employer breaking Article 6(1), 9, 11(1), 12, 13, 14 or 16 has been given a recommendation and does not follow it, the Minister may make that fact public. Article 8 is not on that list.(Art. 18(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The only penalties the Act sets are non-criminal fines (過料): up to 200,000 yen for not making a report required under Article 18(1), or making a false one, and up to 100,000 yen for breaching the duty in Article 6(1) to state working conditions on hiring.(Art. 30(1), Art. 31(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A dispute between a part-time or fixed-term worker and the employer over the matters in Article 22 is handled under this Act instead of Articles 4, 5 and 12 to 19 of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes, a separate Act. If one or both sides ask for help, the director of the prefectural labour bureau may give them advice, guidance or a recommendation, and the employer must not dismiss or otherwise disadvantage a worker for asking.(Art. 23(1), Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
If one or both sides apply for conciliation (調停) and the director finds it needed, the director has it conducted by the dispute coordinating committee (紛争調整委員会) of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes, under the conciliation rules of the Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment as this Act adapts them — both separate Acts — and a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order. The employer must not dismiss or otherwise disadvantage a worker for applying.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 26(1), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

Cites this lawLawThis law cites it

0
Labor Standards Act
3
1
Labor Contracts Act
0

It also names 9 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

94
73
17not translated

The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)短時間労働者及び有期雇用労働者の雇用管理の改善等に関する法律 — the text in force from 2020-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)短時間労働者及び有期雇用労働者の雇用管理の改善等に関する法律 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Improvement of Personnel Management and Conversion of Employment Status for Part-Time Workers and Fixed-Term Workers — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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