In the case of foreign national workers, the type of residential qualification (working visa) determines the person’s right to stay and work in Japan. If, for any reason, a foreign national worker loses their residential qualification, they will face discharge from work.

In the Japanese Labour Standards Law a discharge become null, as an abuse of an employer’s rights, if the discharge is based on unreasonable circumstances and is found to be at odds with social norms.

However, if a worker loses their right to stay in Japan for a reason such as being involved in criminal activity, they would not be able to continue their employment.

Being discharged from work is rare in Japan. For example, if a worker is injured or falls ill in the course of their work, they are protected from being fired during the time needed for medical care and 30 days after that. If a female worker has maternity leave, their employment is protected by law for the period defined in Article 65 of the Labour Standards Law and 30 days after that.

There can be rare cases where the discharge of staff, including foreign workers, is allowed. An example would be if a work building collapsed as a result of a disaster such as an earthquake and the business became unable to function.

In Article 20 of the Labour Standards Law in Japan, the employer should notify the employee 30 days prior to a discharge. This duration can be shortened if the employer pays out the discharge period using the calculated average daily wage. For immediate discharge, 30 days’ worth of discharge notification payment is required. This is called kaiko-yokoku-teate.