Photo/Illutration Many bars and restaurants in this building in Tokyo's Shinjuku district remain closed on Feb. 2 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. (Koichi Ueda)

Part-time and other irregular workers at major chain restaurants and bars who lost work hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be eligible for government support money, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry announced Feb. 5.

The workers can apply for compensation for lost wages dating back to Jan. 8 when Japan's second state of emergency over the pandemic began, the ministry said. Plans call for accepting applications from workers starting in late February.

Until now, the support program had only covered workers at small businesses.

Major companies are obligated to pay allowances to workers they ask to stay home because of the pandemic. But many part-time and irregular workers at major restaurant chains had said their companies were not delivering on those allowances and called on the government to expand the support program.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Feb. 4 said the government was moving toward expanding the program to part-time and other irregular workers at major companies, during a session of the Lower House Budget Committee.

There had been concern that if such workers received financial support, their companies would then not fulfill their obligations to pay them allowances for staying home. But the new measure will only be limited to irregular workers.

With many bars and restaurants shortening business hours or closing temporarily, part-time workers and people hired by the day have taken a large hit to their incomes, but some were unable to receive the government support money because they were employed by major companies.

Suga, at the Budget Committee session, said that it was the responsibility of politicians to protect jobs and the livelihoods of the people.

(This article was written by Takashi Yoshida and Sawa Okabayashi.)

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