By TAKASHI ENDO/ Staff Writer
February 21, 2024 at 18:40 JST
Mari Hirata, the head of the professional and parallel career freelance association, explains on Feb. 20 the guidelines to protect freelancers who are working just like regular employees. (Takashi Endo)
An industry association released guidelines on Feb. 20 to better protect those who are classified as freelancers yet who work just like regular employees at a company.
The guidelines were created by the Tokyo-based professional and parallel career freelance association.
They outline specific indicators of freelancers working under employee-like conditions, urging companies that hire these workers to ensure proper working conditions.
While freelancers are self-employed workers and have the advantage of working at their own discretion, they are not legally considered to be “workers” and thus are not protected by the Labor Standards Law.
However, some freelancers are closely managed by the companies that hire them, making them effectively work just as much as regular employees do but without the legal protection.
There are criteria for determining whether a freelancer is being treated like an employee, such as a company giving directions to them or setting limitations on where and when their work can be done.
However, as it is difficult to rule whether the actual working style meets such criteria, the guidelines offer many specific examples, such as “be careful if a timecard is being used to log working hours.”
The association also created a checklist to prevent companies from mistakenly treating freelancers as regular employees.
Mari Hirata, head of the association, said that companies sometimes hesitate to assign work to freelancers partly because it’s difficult to determine if the work is actually meant for them.
“I hope that utilizing the guidelines will help create a safe environment for both companies and workers,” she said.
When the new freelance law was enacted in April last year, an additional resolution was included that stipulates that adequate measures should be instituted to protect freelancers who work just like regular employees.
But no concrete measures have been taken.
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