On April 6, 2018, the Japanese Cabinet approved and submitted to the Diet the Bill for Legislation for the Promotion of Work Style Reform ("Bill"). The Bill was drafted based on the legislative outline described in our October 2017 issue. The limits on overtime, establishment of a sophisticated professional system, and securing of fair working conditions regardless of employment type described in the legislative outline were incorporated into the Bill without any significant changes. In contrast, the expansion of the scope of the discretionary working system for management-related work was removed from the Bill before it was submitted to the Diet because of doubts regarding the reliability of the data that formed the basis for the proposed expansion. Because the opposition parties strongly object to the Bill, it is unclear whether the Bill will be enacted and, if it is enacted, whether any amendments will be made. Accordingly, businesses should pay close attention to Diet deliberations.

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