Company legal requirements for staff

[KCLenny]

Hi all, I’ve just been having a conversation with my Japanese friend who told me that companies are legally required in Japan to offer kousei nenkin. My company offers nothing. There are no benefits, no social security services or anything of the sort. I literally have my income tax and I think unemployment insurance come out of my wages every month.
My colleague in the company said it’s not illegal and it’s because my company, and I quote “isn’t an official company”.
What does that even mean? I have no idea how I’ve been able to get a visa for working there 3 times now if it’s not an official company. Is there a certain type of company that isn’t required to offer kousei nenkin?
Any help is appreciated.

[zeroshiki]

Are you an employee, a contractor or haken? The company might be required to offer kosei nenkin to their employees but if you're not an employee then they don't need to offer it to you.

Kosei Nenkin is also only for companies that have more than 500 employees.

[RetireJapan]

Kosei Nenkin is also only for companies that have more than 500 employees.

This is not correct.

My understanding of the current rules is that incorporated companies (GK and KK) need to enrol all full-time staff into shakai hoken (health and kosei nenkin). Sole proprietors with fewer than 5 staff are exempt.

However, there seem to be some loopholes and fairly lax enforcement, so many companies weasel out of their obligation to enrol staff in this (by claiming staff don't work full-time or just ignoring the rules).

[KCLenny]

Are you an employee, a contractor or haken? The company might be required to offer kosei nenkin to their employees but if you're not an employee then they don't need to offer it to you.

Kosei Nenkin is also only for companies that have more than 500 employees.

I honestly have no idea what I’m classed as. My boss has always been quite vague about that.
My company has 5 staff in total. The boss/owner, the receptionist, 2 teachers, and 1 supervisor/assistant manager. That’s it.
My boss has just told me that she is classed as being self employed!
I work the most hours of anyone at 28 teaching hours a week, plus probably 2-3 hours preparation time.

[Copyleft]

I work at Shiga Engineering and we have just 15 employer’s (seisyain) and all have kosei. We just dont pay for 20 subcontractors (sitauke).

[Copyleft]

Are you an employee, a contractor or haken? The company might be required to offer kosei nenkin to their employees but if you're not an employee then they don't need to offer it to you.

Kosei Nenkin is also only for companies that have more than 500 employees.

I honestly have no idea what I’m classed as. My boss has always been quite vague about that.
My company has 5 staff in total. The boss/owner, the receptionist, 2 teachers, and 1 supervisor/assistant manager. That’s it.
My boss has just told me that she is classed as being self employed!
I work the most hours of anyone at 28 teaching hours a week, plus probably 2-3 hours preparation time.

Ask your boss to give your contract

[RetireJapan]

Are you an employee, a contractor or haken? The company might be required to offer kosei nenkin to their employees but if you're not an employee then they don't need to offer it to you.

Kosei Nenkin is also only for companies that have more than 500 employees.

I honestly have no idea what I’m classed as. My boss has always been quite vague about that.
My company has 5 staff in total. The boss/owner, the receptionist, 2 teachers, and 1 supervisor/assistant manager. That’s it.
My boss has just told me that she is classed as being self employed!
I work the most hours of anyone at 28 teaching hours a week, plus probably 2-3 hours preparation time.

Sounds like your boss is a sole proprietor. In that case, your school seems to have fewer than five full-time employees so there would not be an obligation to enrol you in shakai hoken (they could do it voluntarily, but it does increase costs a lot, which is why tiny businesses are exempt).

Depending on how your working hours are counted you may be under the limit for full-time as well.

My wife's school is similar, except that we are planning to incorporate soon, at which point we'll migrate everyone over to shakai hoken.

[beanhead]

A lot of English schools used to dodge their responsibilities by classing all foreign teachers as contractors / keiyaku shaiin rather than full-time employees. This sounds similar.

Your friend is incorrect to say that all companies must provide kosei nenkin, though. As noted, this requirement is for companies with 5 employees.
My understanding is that the owners/directors of the firm are not included in this number as they are not employees.
So your place could have 4 employees or less. They have probably classifies you as a contractor.

The positive for you is that your social insurance will be less and you should be able to contribute more to iDeCo than if using shakai hoken.
But the benefits for both you and your wife will be less, as well. If you had a family in the future, this would become more of a problem.

The long-term advice already given is to try and work for a better employer, with shakai hoken. I understand that this is not simple, but I believe that you should start thinking and planning in that direction.

[KCLenny]

So basically time to look for another job by the sounds of it then.
Thanks for the all the replies everyone.

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

As noted, this requirement is for companies with 5 employees.

This is one of those times when the semantics really do matter, and the difference between a company and a sole-proprietorship is very important in this case. A "company's" shakai hoken obligations are not dependent on the number of its employees. The "as noted" part you mention referred to sole proprietorships.