Labour Relations Commission (Japan)

Labor Relations Commissions (労働委員会, Rōdō Iinkai^?) are Japanese government commissions responsible for protecting the legal rights of workers in Japan under the Constitution of Japan and the Trade Union Act of 1949.

Each of the 47 prefectures of Japan has a prefectural Labor Relations Commission. The Central Labor Relations Commission is located in Tokyo. Parties dissatisfied with a decision in one of the prefectural labor commissions can appeal the Central Labor Commission. It also hears cases of nationwide scale or great importance.

Commissioners of the prefectural Labor Relations Commissions are appointed by the governor of the relevant prefecture, while those at the Central Labor Commission are appointed by the Prime Minister. Commissioner numbers are distributed equally among commissioners from union, employer, and public interest backgrounds.

Labor Relations Commissions have two main functions:

While the labor commissions do have some powers to enforce decisions, they function more as forums to bring disputing parties together. More than 70% of cases end in some form of settlement.

According to the labor ministry, from 1996 to 1999, the prefectural labor commissions took around 800 days on average to investigate a case, and the Central Labor Relations Commission spent 1,500 days in the reinvestigation process. It took roughly 500 days on average to litigate labor dispute trials brought before district courts. In 2003, various reforms were discussed to speed up the process of cases. In 2005, the Trade Union Act was amended to speed up the process of labor commission cases.

In 2008, during the administration of Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister Tarō Asō the government's devolution panel recommended abolishing the Central Labor Relations Commission and only retaining the prefectural labor relations commissions. The proposal was not adopted.

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