IEL Elite

Overview

Full-service Japanese powerhouse Anderson Mori & Tomotsune boasts a highly experienced labour and employment law team. Kazutoshi Kakuyama leads the department from Tokyo. Hideki Thurgood Kanoh, also in Tokyo, is another key name in the team.

The group primarily services multinationals with branches in Japan. The firm in September 2022 opened a satellite office in London to bolster its offering for Europe-based clients.

In addition, clients benefit from the firm’s satellite offices across Asia, associated firms in Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Singapore, as well as its membership of the Ius Laboris alliance.

Tran Quang Huy in Ho Chi Minh, Pitch Benjatikul in Bangkok, and Keisuke Hatano in Tokyo were promoted to partner in January 2022.

Specialisms

The team is adept at taking on a broad variety of issues impacting workforces in Japan, from navigating the hire of foreign workers under the Immigration Control Act, through to employee mental health, data privacy, and policy drafting.

In addition, the firm’s full-service offering allows the department easy access to professionals in other practice areas, such as intellectual property, to assist with cross-discipline issues.

Dismissals are a key area of expertise – including those on disciplinary grounds, for poor performance, or as a result of corporate restructurings. Team members advise on planning, investigation, and communicating terminations, as well as on negotiating severance packages, and drafting termination agreements.

Another key area of activity for the practice is in non-regular employee hiring and worker status. This spans fixed- and part-time workers, temporary staffing, and the use of recruitment agencies both domestically and abroad.

The group also supports clients in litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and in risk mitigation practices, as well as with highly sensitive internal investigations.

Labour relations expertise spans collective bargaining, and representation before labour relations commissions or in disputes.

Harassment is a further area of expertise. Team members are able to support clients with investigations into allegations, as well as related internal policies. As part of its offering, the team provides harassment awareness and prevention seminars.

The group also acts on the employment aspects of M&A, restructuring, and business transfers. This includes post-transaction workforce reduction and amendments to working conditions.

Further areas of expertise include remuneration, incentives, pensions, social security, and compliance (including inspections by the authorities).