Act on Ensuring Wage Payment

賃金の支払の確保等に関する法律（ちんぎんのしはらいのかくほとうにかんするほうりつ）

Protection for workers' pay when a business fails or a worker leaves: when an employer goes bankrupt or another event a Cabinet Order sets happens, the government pays unpaid wages within a range a Cabinet Order sets; the employer owes interest on wages still unpaid after a worker leaves; and workers' savings an employer holds as deposits must be safeguarded.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 21
Amendments on the way: 0

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What this law does

If an employer receives a decision opening bankruptcy proceedings (破産手続開始の決定), or another event a Cabinet Order sets happens to it, the government pays unpaid wages in the employer's place, at the request of the worker. The employer's business must be one covered by workers' accident compensation insurance (労働者災害補償保険), which a separate Act governs, and the employer must have run it for at least the period a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets. The worker must have left that business within the period a Cabinet Order sets.(Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

The government pays only the part of the unpaid wages — wages still unpaid after their payment date — that falls within a range a Cabinet Order sets; the Act itself states no percentage or cap. "Wages" are wages as Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act defines them. For workers a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order specifies, the request needs the director of a labor standards office () to confirm the amount of unpaid wages and other matters first, and a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets how to make the request.(Art. 7(1), Art. 2(1), Labor Standards Act Art. 11(1), Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
If someone received the government's payment by deception or another wrongful act (偽りその他不正の行為), the government may order them to repay all or part of it, and also to pay a further amount of up to what they received that way. If the payment was made because the employer gave a false report or certificate, the government may order the employer to pay that amount jointly with the person who received it.(Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
If an employer has not paid all of a worker's wages by the day the worker leaves — or, for wages whose payment date comes later, by that date — it must pay interest on the unpaid amount from the next day until it pays, at a rate a Cabinet Order sets of not more than 14.6% a year. This does not cover a retirement allowance (退職手当). No interest runs for any period in which the delay is caused by a natural disaster or another unavoidable cause a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order specifies.(Art. 6(1), Art. 6(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
An employer that manages workers' savings for them by taking the workers' deposits must, each year, protect the deposits it holds on 31 March for the following year — for example by a contract under which a bank or other financial institution guarantees their repayment — using a measure a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order specifies. This does not apply in cases that Order sets.(Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
An employer that has made clear in a labor contract, a collective agreement, its work rules or similar that it will pay workers a retirement allowance (退職手当) must endeavour to protect an amount a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, by measures like those for savings. This is a duty to endeavour, and no penalty attaches to it. Employers a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order lists, such as those that have a retirement allowance mutual aid contract (退職金共済契約) under the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Retirement Allowance Mutual Aid Act, a separate Act, are left out.(Art. 5(1), Chapter 5) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

Government payment of unpaid wagesRepaying a payment wrongly obtainedInterest on wages unpaid after leavingProtecting workers' savingsProtecting retirement allowancesReporting a violation

21 68 9 15 21

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. 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.

5 amendments already in force

1 June 2025
The text on this site
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
17 June 2022
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2020
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
2 June 2017
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 October 2010
Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.
雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Employers (事業主), which have the duties on savings, interest on late wages and the ban on retaliating against a worker who reports, and a duty to endeavour to protect retirement allowances. The national government and local governments are not employers for this Act.(Art. 3(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 6(1), Art. 14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Workers as Article 9 of the Labor Standards Act defines them — people employed in a business and paid wages — except people employed in a business or office that employs only relatives living with the employer, and domestic workers (家事使用人).(Art. 2(2), Labor Standards Act Art. 9(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (1)

For seafarers covered by the Mariners Act, the powers this Act gives to prefectural labor bureau directors, labor standards office directors and labor standards inspectors are exercised by directors of district transport bureaus and officers in charge of seafarers' labor affairs (船員労務官). In most places, an Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism takes the place of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order.(Art. 16(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (8)

A worker may report an employer's breach of this Act, or of the Cabinet Orders and Ministerial Orders made under it, to the Director of a Prefectural Labor Bureau (), the director of a labor standards office or a labor standards inspector (), and ask for it to be put right. The employer must not dismiss the worker or treat them unfavourably in any other way for making that report.(Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Directors of labor standards offices and labor standards inspectors carry out this Act, and labor standards inspectors act as judicial police officers (司法警察員) for offences under it, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, a separate Act. Where an employer has not protected workers' savings as Article 3 requires, the director of a labor standards office may order it to put this right by a deadline.(Art. 10(1), Art. 11(1), Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where needed to carry out this Act, the Director of a Prefectural Labor Bureau, the director of a labor standards office or a labor standards inspector may order employers, workers and others concerned to report or to appear, and labor standards inspectors may enter workplaces, question people and inspect books and documents. Where needed to confirm matters for the government's payment of unpaid wages, the director of a labor standards office may have officials do the same at the employer's workplace. Officials entering must carry and show identification, and this power is not one given for criminal investigation.(Art. 12(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 13(2), Art. 13(3), Art. 13(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Director of a Prefectural Labor Bureau, the director of a labor standards office or a labor standards inspector may ask administrative bodies and public or private organisations for materials and other cooperation in carrying out this Act. Those asked must comply as far as they can.(Art. 12-2(1), Art. 12-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Amounts ordered repaid or paid under Article 8 are collected under Articles 27 and 41 of the Act on the Collection, etc. of Insurance Premiums of Labor Insurance (労働保険の保険料の徴収等に関する法律), a separate Act. Under those Articles, the government sends a demand with a deadline at least 10 days away and, if the amount is still unpaid by then, collects it the way unpaid national taxes are collected (国税滞納処分の例); the right to collect lapses two years after it can first be exercised. So far as needed for this, the government may order the person who received the payment by deception or another wrongful act (or someone recognised as such), or the employer, to report or submit documents on the amount of unpaid wages, how wages were paid and other matters.(Art. 8(3), Art. 8(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
An employer that dismisses or otherwise mistreats a worker for reporting a breach can be punished by imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 100,000 yen. An employer that disobeys an order to protect workers' savings can be fined up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 17(1), Art. 18(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A fine of up to 100,000 yen can be imposed for failing to report, reporting falsely, failing to submit documents or submitting false ones when ordered under Article 8(4); for failing to report, reporting falsely or failing to appear when ordered under Article 12; and for refusing, obstructing or evading an inspection under Article 13, or not answering or answering falsely. Where a company's representative, or an agent, employee or other worker of a company or person, commits an offence under Articles 17 to 19 in its business, that company or person is fined under the same Article as well as the offender being punished.(Art. 19(1)(i), Art. 19(1)(ii), Art. 19(1)(iii), Art. 20(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The government's payment of unpaid wages is carried out as the program listed in Article 29(1)(iii) of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, a separate Act.(Art. 9(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

Cites this lawLawThis law cites it

0
Labor Standards Act
2
1
Residential Basic Book Act
0

It also names 8 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

52
41
33not 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)賃金の支払の確保等に関する法律 — the text in force from 2025-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)賃金の支払の確保等に関する法律 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Ensuring Wage Payment — 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
Written for this site with AICorrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of paragraphs
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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