The Japanese government revised its Power Harassment Prevention Law in 2022, for the first time legally defining harassment and mandating companies to create policies to prevent, investigate and resolve matters. Workplace harassment complaints have since exploded since workers gained this reference point, showing there is a long way to go to improve on-the-ground working conditions across industries. To start this month’s discussion on Power Harassment, it’s important to recognize what protections workers should have.

First of all, to tackle a problem, it’s best to define it. 

The core definition of power harassment consists of 3 elements:

1. Conduct is based on a discrepancy in power balance (job title, seniority, physical size)
2. Behaviour that exceeds what is necessary and reasonable for core business operations
3. The actions harm the workplace environment by causing physical or emotional destress

Additionally, there are six types of harassment recognized under the umbrella term Power Harassment.

1. Physical Aggression: Assault or bodily injury.
2. Psychological Aggression: Threats, insults, and severe verbal abuse.
3. Workplace Isolation: Excluding, shunning, or isolating an employee.
4. Excessive Demands: Forcing employees to perform tasks that are unrealistic or clearly unnecessary for business.
5. Underemployment: Assigning trivial, low-level menial tasks far below an employee’s capability, or giving no work at all.
6. Privacy Invasion: Unwarranted prying into personal, private matters. 

To address the issues, the MHLW has created compliance requirements to ensure a safe workplace. Since 2022, they require all workplaces to have a clear policy that states the prohibition of power harassment and the disciplinary consequences. There must be consultation channels which can be done in-house through HR or through a third party. And if a complaint is made, there must be a rapid and accurate investigation while maintaining confidentiality. Furthermore, during the investigation, victims need to have adequate care and perpetrators need to be disciplined. And finally, privacy must be protected and there cannot be any retaliation against employees who report harassment. 

Even though there is a framework on paper, it may not mean that your workplace has taken it into account. They may have made policies based on the guidelines, but that doesn’t guarantee that harassment will be dealt with in a satisfactory manner. The idea of reporting to HR is often problematic and results in less than desired outcomes, even though there are supposed to be protections against retaliation. The union recognizes the difficulties in dealing with such a broad term, and therefore focuses on pinpointing issues that can concretely be addressed to improve the workplace environment.