Is it possible to change jobs as a Specified Skilled Worker? The company I’m currently working for suddenly told me to quit. But they never told me why I was being dismissed.

That’s not good at all. The company must explain their reason for dismissing you.

Now I feel uncomfortable about going back to work.

There are some cases where people have resigned after receiving settlement money. We recommend that you get help from a consultation service first.

A foreigner was told that he would be dismissed from his job soon after he started working as a specified skilled worker. Although specified skilled workers can change jobs, he was unable to find a new job immediately and was in trouble. Here is how he solved the problem.

Consultation and Solution

Dismissal Notice

A specified skilled worker in his 20s had started working in a restaurant. However, within 10 days of officially starting his work after training, the restaurant fired him.

Labor Tribunal Proceeding

He asked a lawyer to negotiate, but the employer insisted that he had offered to resign, so his lawyer filed a Labor Tribunal Proceeding.

The labor tribunal accepted his claim and ordered the restaurant to continue his employment and pay him the unpaid wages. The restaurant objected and the case went to trial, but settled on the same terms as the labor tribunal.

Lawyer’s Argument

It is difficult to finding a new job

In response to the restaurant’s claim that he offered to resign, the lawyer refuted as follows, which was accepted.

• In order to change jobs as a specified skilled worker, it is necessary to sign an employment contract with the new employer and change one’s status of residence, which is not an easy task.
• Companies that employ specified skilled workers need to provide support for the foreigners’ daily life, etc., and it is not always easy to find.
• There is no way that he would voluntarily offer to resign if he has not found a new job.

Further, he started his job on a one-year contract. The Labor Contract Act states that a fixed-term employment contract cannot be terminated in the middle of the term unless there are inevitable reasons. The store did not provide any explanation for the inevitable reason.

Life After the Case

After reaching a settlement, he was entitled to return to work, but he resigned after receiving the settlement money.

Part-time work is not originally allowed under the specified skilled worker status, however, under a special exception due to COVID-19, specified skilled workers who have lost their jobs can also work part-time (as of March 2021). He decided to look for a new job as a specified skilled worker while working part-time.

What is the Labor Tribunal Proceeding?

• A procedure to quickly resolve labor-related problems such as dismissal or unpaid wages.
• It is conducted by a labor tribunal composed of one labor tribunal judge　(judge) and two labor tribunal members (private-sector experts).
• About 70% of cases are completed within three months from the filing of a petition.
• If a settlement cannot be reached through discussion (conciliation), a decision called a “labor tribunal” is issued. If there is dissatisfaction with the decision, the case moves to a formal trial.

Problem #3: “The company is uncooperative in renewing my period of stay.”

‟I am working as a full-time employee in Japan, and my period of stay is about to expire, but the company is not preparing the necessary documents for the extension of my period of stay, and my job tasks are being reduced.” Below is the support offered to problems like this.

Problem #5: “Giving birth with a temporary visitor visa”

A technical intern trainee was forced to leave Japan. She came back to Japan on her own, but she got pregnant and could not find a job, so she was worried about how to make a living.

Consultation Services for Foreign Nationals

Who should you consult with if you have a problem with your job, school, everyday life, status of residence, etc., and you cannot solve it even after talking to someone close to you? We will introduce various consultation services. Even if you cannot solve the problem after one consultation, do not give up or run away, and consult with several consultation desks.

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