Money that companies pay to workers includes wages, bonuses, and severance pay. The following rules apply to these payments.
Wages may be paid directly by the company once a month on a fixed date.
There are some bad companies, however, that do not pay properly. For example, some companies might fail to pay wages, claiming that they do not have enough money. Other companies might be careless in calculating wages, or deduct a portion of wages for no reason.
Companies can deduct taxes such as income tax and inhabitant tax, or social insurance premiums such as health insurance premiums and employee pension insurance premiums, as these are regulated by law. However, a company cannot deduct damages from wages, for example, on the grounds that a worker has broken company equipment.
If you are not certain about your pay, check your pay specification slip. If you have any questions, it is important to ask the company for an explanation. Also, if you have not received a pay slip from the company, please request one.
If the company where you work does not pay you properly, please contact the nearest Labor Standards Inspection Office or the Migrant Worker Research Group.
Each prefecture decides its own minimum wage. Companies must pay workers at least this minimum wage. For details, please refer to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website.
If the company has not paid you your wages (or the amount is not enough), you can still file a retroactive claim. However, under the law, it becomes difficult to file a claim after three years have passed since the payday on which the wages were originally due.
If you wish to claim past wages, please contact your nearest Labor Standard Inspection Office or Migrant Worker Research Group.
Severance pay is money paid by companies to workers when they leave the company. In some cases, it is up to the company to decide whether or not to provide severance pay and the amount of severance pay. In some cases, the amount and calculation method for severance pay is stipulated by employment regulations or contracts, so please confirm your contract and the company's policies.
The statute of limitations for severance pay is five years.