Uber Eats

Have you ever seen people riding bicycles with large black and green square bags ? They are delivery workers for Uber Eats, which is a food delivery service operated by U.S.-based Uber Technologies. By using a smartphone app, customers are able to order meals from nearby restaurants, which are then delivered to a homes and other designated address. Unlike traditional food delivery, Uber Eats drivers are not restaurant employees but individuals recruited workers through Uber as intermediaries in the sharing economy.

Although presented as independent contractors, drivers face strict controls, low acceptance rates can lead to account suspension, delivery details and fees are unilaterally set by application owners, and drivers cannot negotiate at all. They are also excluded from workers’ compensation coverage. Given these conditions, Uber drivers may be considered as workers rather that being independent. These kind of problems have also been brought up in other countries which caused some countries like France to introduce legal protections for platform based workers. apa citation Smith, J. (2024, March 15). The legal status of gig workers in food delivery platforms.                                                                                             The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com

violations in unpaid wages

 According to media reports, a 77-year-old female director who was responsible for paying wages at the company, failed to pay the wages for May 2023 to 12 employees by the appointed deadline.There was also information that the were underpaid by the the minimum wage set in Kagawa Prefecture. In response, on January 8 the Marugame Labor Standards Inspection Office referred the company and the female director to the Takamatsu District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of violating the Minimum Wage Act. The total amount of unpaid wages for May 2023 is said to be approximately 2.3 million yen. It has also been pointed out that there may have been unpaid wages over a long period, which could be estimated around to several month period, which is beyond this case.                                                                                            

As of 2026, the company reportedly has no employees and is no longer in function although it is said to have not went bankrupt. The reason I chose this article was that recently I saw a short video about the monthly wage for a being year blue collar worker and I was concerned of about the few wages the worker was earning, including the physical fatigue that comes with the job. I think that there are many firms that are violating the law that haven't got caught. apa January 16 cited from https://www.corporate-legal.jp/news/6201

younger people not wanting to be promoted

In recent years, many young workers in Japan have shown little interest in becoming promoted. Surveys indicate a decline in the number of people in their twenties wanting to be in a managing position. Common reasons include a lack of interest in management itself, the perception that upper roles are little rewarded and aren't worth the responsibility , and the absence of happy role models among current managers.

This shift reflects a broader diversification of values toward work. Younger generations increasingly prioritize personal fulfillment outside the workplace, such as relationships, family time, and hobbies. At the same time, traditional Japanese employment practices—lifetime employment, seniority-based promotion, and male centered careers are weakening. Freelancing, project-based work, and short-term jobs are becoming more common. As a result, promotion and salary increases are no longer attractive among the younger working force , and career advancement within a single company is no longer seen as the main path . 

One additional information that could be relatable to this article is the difference between a normal worker and in a managing position. This article shows that it isn't the position that is affecting the salary, it is the specific job that your are doing is the actual matter. 

I thought that this article was important due to the fact that I thought that getting a promotion was the goal for most of the workers in Japan. 

apa THE21オンライン. (2025, January 13). 「管理職に幸福そうな人がいない」昇進を望まない若手社員が増加している背景. THE21オンライン.

high violation rates in the construction industry

 The Akita Labour Bureau has released a summary of the results of  inspections conducted at wooden house construction sites in 2025. In July of the previous year, labor standards inspection offices n inspected and provided guidance at 179 wooden construction sites, covering a total of 270 business establishments. As a result, violations of the Industrial Safety and Health Act were found at 177 establishments, representing a high violation rate of 65.6 percent.

The most frequent violations were related to fall prevention, with 146 cases identified. These included unsafe conditions such as the lack work platforms at locations higher than two meters, as well as missing guardrails. In addition, 90 violations involved scaffolding and passageways, including inadequate measures to prevent falling objects and failure to display maximum load capacity information. Due to particularly hazardous machinery or dangerous work areas, 27 sites involving 43 establishments were issued orders for work suspension or restricted access to ensure worker safety.

The reason I pick this article is that I have been to these kinds of construction sites as a part tome job. I felt that there was some moments that felt unsafe and might cause accidents. 

But due to the reports from Akita prefecture it isn't just the companies that are to blame. The problems spread more widely. Labor shortages, tight schedules, and limited safety management at smaller construction sites contribute to these issues. The inspections show the government’s ongoing effort to reduce accidents and improve workplace safety.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2025). Results of labor safety inspections at wooden house construction sites in Akita Prefecture. https://www.mhlw.go.jp

Breaks in the workplace

Like most employees, you likely work long shifts and work had at your job. Lunch breaks are essential for you to get through the day while being productive. But due to a survey it has been revealed that 50 percent of the workforce aren't getting enough lunch breaks. As a matter of fact 10 percent of the workers aren't even getting 15 minutes breaks due to having too much work to do, even the people that are getting around 60 minutes breaks are still taking calls and answering emails on their breaks. 

As a matter of fact when working over 8 hours  it is illegal for a worker to not have a full none working break for one hour. 

Next, when we asked about the ideal vs the reality of lunch breaks, people who were not able to take a sufficient lunch break said their ideal lunch break averaged 63.1 minutes. In reality, however, it was 44.3 minutes, resulting in a gap of around 20 minutes. 

Personally I thought that most of the workers in Japan are suffering to this problem. They are not taking enough breaks and forcing themself to work though them. Japan has a law which is to, 1 give a break during working hours, 2 give all employees, 3 for the worker to be able to take a break at the time at their own will (not including waiting time during shifts). It is the firm that has to make the change, and the laws need to be more stricter for the workers to have less stressful shifts. 

  My vlog this week will be about a new law in Japan that aims to improve the working conditions for public school teachers. On June 11, the Diet passed a bill that will finally raise the “teaching adjustment allowance,” which has stayed at 4 percent since 1972. Starting in 2026, it will increase by 1percent each year until it reaches 10 percent in 2031. This allowance is meant to compensate teachers for their long overtime hours, which have became a huge problem over these few years. 

Some people might think this isn’t a big deal, but it could actually help change the image of schools being “black workplaces.” The law also sets a goal to reduce teachers’ overtime to around 30 hours a month by 2029. Local education boards will now have to publish plans to manage teacher workloads and protect their health, and new “supervising teacher” positions can be created to support younger staff and share responsibilities.

I thought that this article was important to me, my teachers in my previous schools tend to look very tired and would drink coffee 24/7. I thought that this could effect
students due to teachers  not being able to take enough rest leading to low quality classes. 

extra One of the reasons that teachers have to overwork is Japans club activity systems. But recently there have been discussions to abolition them.Although doing this might cause other problems too. 

The Mainichi. (2025, June 11). Teachers will get higher pay and less overtime under revised law. The Mainichi. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250611/p2a/00m/0na/016000c

My vlog

welcome to my blog I will post weekly about laws that are related to workplaces and employment

I hope you find this interesting!!

my vlog this week will be about a worker from a staffing agency application sues a company for 14000yen for canceling his schedule for him to work for a short period of time. This might not sound mush of a problem and some people might think that this isn't worthy of being on the news, but the truth is that if the worker wins this case this ill mean that the total unpaid salaries from the past will sum up to 300 billion yen due to the plaintiffs lawyer. 

I thought that this article was interesting because I think that many workers in the society don't care to look at their contracts, thinking that if the company tells me so it must not be illegal. This worker who was  just a normal student working part time might impact the whole working society. I though that this workers ability to doubt something and even if its possible to do was something that more people need to do weather your a worker or not. 

 extras The MHLW which appears many times in this article is one of Japans central government ministries, responsible for protecting citizens ,livelihoods, health, and working environments. 

 

Fujie, H. (2025, November 11). [First lawsuit over last-minute cancellation by restaurants in spot-work: What to know about when a labor contract is formed]. \ https://www.inshokuten.com/foodist/article/8121/