TOPICAL ISSUES OF REGULATION OF WORKING TIME IN JAPAN AND RUSSIA

The article is devoted to the problem of regulation of working hours in two neighboring countries — Japan and Russia. The achievement of an economic miracle in Japan required an extraordinary effort of ordinary workers in companies and production workers in the 60s of the twentieth century, which gave rise to a new social phenomenon in Japanese society known as “karoshi” — death as a result of overwork in the workplace. The phenomenon of “karoshi” persists to this day and has transformed into an even more serious phenomenon — “karojisatsu” — suicide as a result of the problem of overwork, lack of interest in life, deep depression. Examples of the legislative initiative of the Japanese government and the efforts of society to overcome negative social and legal phenomena are given. Nowadays, voluntary overtime after working hours called “zangyo” is widespread, which is a negative feature of Japanese business. The article describes the mentality of Japanese society, the origins of the generation of the phenomena “zangyo”, “karoshi” and “karojisatsu” from the samurai code. In Japan, in many cases, employees work overtime due to a sense of duty, fear of losing their jobs in an economic crisis, to move up the career ladder, it happens that excessive workload does not allow them to complete all tasks on time within the established 8-hour working day. Since the phenomenon of excessive work activity is observed in modern Russia, the article provides a comparative characteristic of Russian legislation and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which regulate the scope of overtime. Accounting for social phenomena resembling “karoshi” is not carried out in Russia. Only occupational diseases and injuries in the workplace are relevant and regulated by law.

legal regulation, working hours, overtime, irregular working hours, accidents, injuries, Japan, Russia, karoshi, karojisatsu.

Strelnikov I. A., Minakova E. V., Ratnikova V. I., Strelnikova N. V. Topical issues of regulation of working time in Japan and Russia. Business. Education. Law, 2021, no. 3, pp. 255—260. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2021.56.352.