# 労働契約法 / Labor Contracts Act — 第十七条 (Article 17)

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- Law: 労働契約法 (Labor Contracts Act), 平成十九年法律第百二十八号
- English title "Labor Contracts Act": Ministry of Justice translation
- Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say.
- Provision: 第十七条 (Article 17)（契約期間中の解雇等） — address `art-17`
- Text in force since: 2020-04-01
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/labor-contracts-act/art-17
- Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/419AC0000000128/art-17
- Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it.
- Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below.

Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text
below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and
says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this
site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names.
They are never merged and never substituted for one another.

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### 第十七条（契約期間中の解雇等） — (Dismissal During the Contract Term)
<sup>caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>
<sup>art-17 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/labor-contracts-act/art-17 · https://japanlaw.org/l/419AC0000000128/art-17</sup>

**第一項**  使用者は、期間の定めのある労働契約（以下この章において「有期労働契約」という。）について、やむを得ない事由がある場合でなければ、その契約期間が満了するまでの間において、労働者を解雇することができない。
<sup>art-17/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/labor-contracts-act/art-17/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/419AC0000000128/art-17/par-1</sup>
With regard to a labor contract that has a fixed term (hereinafter referred to in this Chapter as a "fixed-term labor contract") , an Employer may not dismiss a Worker until the expiration of the term of such labor contract, unless there are unavoidable circumstances.
<sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

**第二項**  使用者は、有期労働契約について、その有期労働契約により労働者を使用する目的に照らして、必要以上に短い期間を定めることにより、その有期労働契約を反復して更新することのないよう配慮しなければならない。
<sup>art-17/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/labor-contracts-act/art-17/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/419AC0000000128/art-17/par-2</sup>
With regard to a fixed-term labor contract, an Employer must give consideration to not renewing such labor contract repeatedly as a result of prescribing a term that is shorter than necessary in light of the purpose of employing the Worker based on such labor contract.
<sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

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## Sources

- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 労働契約法 — the text in force from 2020-04-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/419AC0000000128/20200401_430AC0000000071), retrieved 2026-09-10
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Labor Contracts Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3744/tb), retrieved 2026-09-10
- This site's parser, version 211 — 労働契約法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-09-10