- Pre-announcement of Legislation for Partial Amendment (Plan) of the “Enforcement Regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-family Balance Assistance Act”
On June 9, 2014, the Ministry of Employment and Labor made pre-announcement of legislation for partial amendment of the Enforcement Regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-family Balance Assistance Act (scheduled to be enforced on January 1, 2015) which includes subdivision of selection criteria of business places which fall short of standards for the employment of female workers.
According to Article 17-3 of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-family Balance Assistance Act (hereinafter “the Act”), any business place where permanently uses 500 workers or more and falls short of standards for the employment of female workers (70% of the average employment ratio of female workers of all professions in the industry on which such business is included) may be requested to establish and submit the “implementation plans of positive employment improvement measures for improvement of discriminative employment practices and systems” by Minister of Employment and Labor. Through this pre-announcement of legislation for partial amendment of the Enforcement Regulations, the industrial classification used to select business places where fail to meet the standards of the employment of female workers was subdivided into 30 categories from the previous 26.
To put it more specifically, (i) the previous “chemical industry” category in the manufacturing sector was subdivided into “chemical industry 1” {production business of materials for medical purposes and medical substances in the category of the manufacturing industry} and “chemical industry 2” {production business of coke, briquette and refined products of oil, production business of chemical substances and chemical products (medical substances excluded) and production business of rubber products and plastic products in the category of the manufacturing industry}; (ii) the previous “heavy industry” category in the manufacturing sector was subdivided into “heavy industry 1” {production business of non-metal mineral products, production business of processed metal products (machinery and furniture excluded), production business of other machinery and equipment and production business of vehicles and trailers in the medium category of the manufacturing industry} and “heavy industry 2” {production business of primary metal and production business of other transportation equipment in the medium category of the manufacturing industry}; (iii) the “construction business” was divided into the “general construction business” and the “construction business by professions” based on medium category of the industry; and (iv) the “lodging and restaurant business” was divided into the “lodging business” and the “bar business” based on medium category of the industry.
Accordingly, based the industrial classification subdivided as the above, an aggressive selection is scheduled to be made for business places where fall short of standards for the employment of female workers (70% of the average employment ratio of female workers of all professions in the industry on which such business is included) and such selected business places will be subject to the positive employment improvement measures.
