Changes on (Act No. 62 of 2025)
The dismissal of a worker carried out by a business operator provided for in Article 2, paragraph (1), item (i) (limited to one that directly employs the worker; the same applies in Article 9) is void if it is on the grounds that the worker, being a whistleblower, has conducted whistleblowing provided for in the respective following items in the cases stated in those items.
if the whistleblower considers that a reportable fact has occurred, or is about to occur:whistleblowing to the recipient of services or other designated person;
if the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that a reportable fact has occurred or is about to occur; or if the whistleblower considers that a reportable fact has occurred, or is about to occur, and submits a document stating the following matters (including a record made by an electronic method, a magnetic method, or any other method not recognizable to human senses; the same applies in (e) of the following item): whistleblowing to an administrative body or other designated person that has the authority to impose a disposition or make a recommendation or other act regarding the reportable fact:
the name and address or residence of the whistleblower;
公益通報者の氏名又は名称及び住所又は居所
details of the reportable fact;
当該通報対象事実の内容
reasons for considering that the reportable fact has occurred or is about to occur; and
当該通報対象事実が生じ、又はまさに生じようとしていると思料する理由
reasons for considering that measures based on laws and regulations, or any other appropriate measures should be taken with respect to the reportable fact.
if the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that a reportable fact has occurred or is about to occur, and one of the following cases applies: whistleblowing report to a person to whom reporting the reportable fact is considered necessary to prevent its occurrence or the spread of damage it causes:
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that if they conduct whistleblowing provided for in the preceding two items, they will be subject to dismissal or other disadvantageous treatment;
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that if they conduct whistleblowing provided for in item (i), the evidence for the reportable fact might be concealed, counterfeited, or altered;
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that if they conduct whistleblowing as provided for in item (i), the recipient of services will divulge the information acquired with respect to the whistleblower without just cause despite knowing that the information enables the identification of the whistleblower;
it is requested that the whistleblower does not conduct whistleblowing provided for in the preceding two items by the recipient of services without just cause;
even if twenty days have elapsed from the day of conducting whistleblowing provided for in item (i) in writing, the whistleblower does not receive a notice from the relevant recipient of services or other designated person about the commencement of an investigation on the reportable fact, or the relevant recipient of services or other designated person does not investigate the reportable fact without just cause; or
Changes on (Act No. 62 of 2025)
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that harm to the life or physical wellbeing of an individual, or damage to the property of an individual (excluding an individual conducting business; the same applies below in this sub-item (f)) (limited to irreparable damage or substantial amount of damage to an extremely large number of individuals directly caused by the reportable fact; the same applies in Article 6, item (ii), (b) and item (iii), (b)) has occurred, or there is an imminent danger of its occurrence.
business operatormachine translation
「事業者」
A corporation or other organization, or an individual who carries on a business.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
whistleblowingmachine translation
「公益通報」
A report made, not for a wrongful purpose such as gaining an unfair benefit or harming others, by one of the persons the items of Article 2, paragraph (1) list (workers, dispatched workers (派遣労働者) and officers (役員) among them), that a reportable fact (通報対象事実) has occurred or is about to occur at the business operator (事業者) the item names for that person, the recipient of services (役務提供先), or among its officers, employees, agents or others, made to that business operator or a person it designated in advance, to an administrative body (行政機関) with authority to make a disposition (処分) or recommendation about the fact or a person that body designated in advance, or to another person to whom reporting it is considered necessary to prevent it or the spread of the harm it causes.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1)· applies throughout the law
dispositionmachine translation
「処分」
An order, a revocation or another act by which public authority is exercised.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
recommendation, etc.machine translation
「勧告等」
A recommendation, or any other act that is not a disposition (処分, an order, revocation or other exercise of public authority).
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
recipient of servicesmachine translation
「役務提供先」
The business operator (事業者) that the items of Article 2, paragraph (1) name for each kind of whistleblower, such as the business that employs a worker, or receives a dispatched worker's (派遣労働者) services, now or within one year before the report, or the business whose duties an officer (役員) performs, concerning which, or whose officers, employees, agents or others, a whistleblowing report (公益通報) is made.
Short name set inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
recipient of services or other designated personmachine translation
「役務提供先等」
The recipient of services (役務提供先), the business operator (事業者) a whistleblowing report (公益通報) concerns, or a person that business operator designated in advance.
Short name set inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
laws and regulationsmachine translation
「法令」
Acts (法律) and orders (命令) made under Acts.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1)
administrative body or other designated personmachine translation
「行政機関等」
In Articles 3 and 6, an administrative body (行政機関) with authority to make a disposition (処分) or a recommendation, etc. (勧告等) about the reportable fact (通報対象事実) concerned, or a person that body designated in advance.
Short name set inArticle 2, paragraph (1)· applies only in this provision and in Article 3, paragraph (1), item (ii); and Article 6, paragraph (1), item (ii)
worker
「労働者」
A worker as Article 9 of the Labor Standards Act defines one: a person, in any kind of occupation, who is employed at a business or office and is paid wages.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (1), item (i)
whistleblower
「公益通報者」
A person who has made a whistleblowing report (公益通報), as Article 2, paragraph (1) defines it.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (2)· applies throughout the law
reportable fact
「通報対象事実」
A criminal act, or a fact that is grounds for a civil fine (過料), under this Act or one of the Acts listed in the Appended Table (別表) as Acts protecting people's life, body, property and other interests, such as consumers' interests, the environment and fair competition, including orders under them; or the facts that are the grounds for a disposition (処分) under an Act listed in the Appended Table, where breaching that disposition would be such a criminal act or ground for a fine, including, where that disposition was made for breaching another disposition or not following a recommendation, etc. (勧告等) under those Acts, the grounds for that other disposition or recommendation.
Defined inArticle 2, paragraph (3)· applies throughout the law
void
無効
Having no legal effect from the start. A void act does not take effect even if the parties later confirm it; confirming it knowing it is void counts as making a new act (Civil Code, Article 119). An act against public order or good morals is void (Article 90). Some Acts that protect one side make void a term that takes that protection away: a term of a land lease that is worse for the tenant than the Act on Land and Building Leases' rules on how long the lease lasts and how it is renewed (Article 9), a clause of a consumer contract that frees a business from all liability for damage its failure to perform causes the consumer (Consumer Contract Act, Article 8, paragraph (1), item (i)), or the part of a labor contract that falls short of the Labor Standards Act's standards, which the Act's standard replaces (Labor Standards Act, Article 13).
Written by AI using Civil Code, Arts. 90, 119, Act on Land and Building Leases, Art. 9, Consumer Contract Act, Art. 8 and Labor Standards Act, Art. 13 as a reference.