Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

The labor ministry is moving to remedy an inequity that undoubtedly deprived people of compensation for work-related accidents.

The issue concerns those who hold down more than one job.

In deciding the amount of compensation to be paid, the ministry is obliged to assess the number of overtime hours worked.

Under the current system, even if a individual holds jobs in several companies, the overtime hours are reported separately by each company.

In the event a person falls sick or is injured in a work-related accident, overtime may not figure in the final equation if such hours are calculated separately.

The labor ministry intends to rectify this situation by adding all the hours worked to calculate overtime. All hours beyond the legal monthly standard hours would be considered overtime.

A subcommittee of the Labor Policy Council met Dec. 10 and gave tentative approval to a proposal submitted by the labor ministry.

The ministry plans to submit legislation in the ordinary Diet session that will convene in January to revise the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Law. The revised law could go into effect from as early as fiscal 2020.

Workers' compensation is paid out when an individual cannot work due to injury or illness developed while on the job.

But under the current system, an individual who developed heart problems after working 40 hours a week as part of a regular job and 25 hours a week in a side job would not qualify for workers' compensation.

The monthly working hours would be calculated separately, meaning the employee put in 160 hours at a regular job and 100 hours at a side job. But the two figures come under the legal standard of 160 working hours for four weeks. That would mean the employee put in zero overtime at both companies.

Under the proposed revision, the employee's monthly working hours would total 260 hours. And the 100 hours that would be considered overtime would reach the level where a worker is considered at risk of possible "karoshi," or death from overwork.

According to a 2017 study by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, an estimated 1.29 million people held more than one job, including part-time and other forms of employment.

The figure was a 25-percent increase from a decade ago. Of those people, two-thirds had earned less than 3 million yen ($27,600) annually from their regular job.