TOYKO: Japan’s labor ministry plans to ban work for 14 consecutive days or more to protect workers’ health, officials said Tuesday.

The ministry plans to submit a bill to revise the labor standards law to parliament as early as 2026 to introduce the restriction.

Under the current law, employers are required to give workers one day off a week, or more than four days off in four weeks, a provision that makes it possible to have employees work for up to 48 consecutive days.

Work for two consecutive weeks or more is used as a criterion for workers’ compensation for mental illness. A survey by the ministry finds that it is more stressful to work for such a long period without days off than to work more than 120 hours of overtime in a month.

JIJI Press