• Journal of Legislation Research
• /
• no.41
• /
• pp.337-366
• /
• 2011

In this article, I intend to analyze the definition of an employee under the Trade Union Act in Japan. Recently, the Supreme Court of Japan held that not only opera singer but also customer engineer is an employee under the Act. Conclusions are as follows:First, it is noteworthy that the Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle of all circumstances established by CBC case. The case focused on deciding that who is an employee under the Act. Notwithstanding this holding of the Supreme Court, district courts and courts of appeals, in deciding this kind of question, have emphasized especially on the side of a legal right and obligation on a contract between an employer and a potential employee. Therefore an independent contractor has not been generally recognized as an employee under the Act. However, even though he or she was, as an independent contractor in name, offering its work to his or her putative employer, the Supreme Court applied the principle of all circumstances to both cases and held in favor on the workers on April, in 2011. Second, the Supreme Court failed to make a general legal principle for deciding that who is an employee under the Act. According to the above holdings of the Supreme Court, nobody can anticipate wether he or she is an employee or not in a concrete case. Finally, the Supreme Court did not also make its opinion clearly about the relations between an employee of the Section 3 of the Act and an employee whom an employer employs under the Section 7(2) of the Act. In conclusion, it can be said that the Supreme Court has narrowly and strictly interpreted an employee of the Section 3. That is to say, only where an employee is recognized as an employee of the Section 7(2), the employee will be also an employee of the Section 3. In Japan, however, the majority interprets that an employee by the Section 3 should be distinguished from the employee whom an employer employs by the Section 7(2). Consequently, according to the majority opinions, unemployed persons, students and citizens will be also included in the definition of an employee by the Section 3.