JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Koichi Saito, Wataru Shimizu, Suguru Yokoi, Ai Tanaka and Mai Kurano, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
enforcement agencies are not imposed, although there may be some reputational damages for the violators. 4.2 Case Law The following are the leading cases relating to business and human rights in Japan. Transgender A national public officer with transgender iden - tity requested that the national government take measures to allow them to use workplace facili - ties based on gender identity, but the National Personnel Authority (NPA) rejected the request. The officer then took the case to the court, seek - ing to overturn the NPA’s decision. In July 2023, the Supreme Court decided that the NPA’s deci - sion was unreasonable, that it had exceeded the limits of its discretionary powers, and, therefore, was illegal. Technical Intern Trainees Regarding the issue of technical intern trainees, a business operator forcibly took away the pass - ports of its technical intern trainees and forced them to work long hours for wages below the statutorily required minimum wage. In Septem - ber 2010, the Fukuoka High Court confirmed that technical intern trainees fall under “work- ers” under the labour laws, including the Labor Standards Act, and are therefore protected under such labour laws. The court ordered the business operator to pay the unpaid wages to the technical intern trainees. Furthermore, the court confirmed the liability of not only the busi - ness operator but also the supervising organisa - tion for confiscating passports and ordered them to pay compensation. A Choice of Different Surnames The use of pre-marriage surnames is becom - ing more common in business settings in Japan.
However, the Civil Code requires that married couples have the same surname. Several law - suits in various regions have challenged the constitutionality of this provision, but thus far, the Supreme Court has not issued any rulings supporting these claims. The Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, has proposed allowing married couples the option to have dif - ferent surnames. This issue is currently being discussed in the National Diet. Same-Sex Marriage Several lawsuits have been filed in various loca - tions claiming that the provisions of the Civil Code and the Family Registration Law that do not allow same-sex marriage are unconstitution - al. So far, five high courts (in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka) have ruled that the provisions of the Civil Code that do not allow legal marriage between same-sex couples are unconstitutional, and a case in Sapporo is cur - rently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. 4.3 Grievance Mechanisms The Human Rights Organisation in the Ministry of Justice have established a system for investi - gating and providing relief. This system accepts a wide range of consultations regarding human rights violations, and the Legal Affairs Bureau staff or Human Rights Organisation will take measures to investigate and provide relief. The Ministry of Justice shows an example of power harassment involving violence from a superior to a subordinate. In this case, in addition to con - firming the facts and giving guidance to the rel - evant superior, the Human Rights Organisation requested that the company should take meas - ures to prevent a recurrence. In addition, the Labour Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare accepts consulta - tions on labour issues.
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