National Personnel Authority

Target Employees

1. Mandatory retirees
2. Employees who retired after an employment extension
3. Employees who retired before the fixed retirement day and who fall under any of the below

• Retirees who served as national public employees for more than 25 years and 5 years have not passed since the day following the first day of retirement
• Persons who have been re-employed under A. above
• Retirees who served as national public employees for more than 25 years and who have been re-employed based on the provisions of the Self-Defense Forces Law within 5 years from the day following the first day of retirement

This re-employment system is applied to employees of government enterprises and specified independent administrative institutions but their remuneration and working hours are specified by responsible Ministers or specified independent administrative institutions, respectively.

Employment and Hiring Period

• End of Hiring Period

Before the first March 31 after the day when the re-employed employee becomes 65 years old The upper age limit of the re-employment will be raised to 65 years old gradually in line with the gradual raising of the age for the start of full mutual aid pension payments.

The extended hiring period may be re-extended under the above conditions.

The upper age limit of re-employment will be raised gradually, by one year of age every three years, until reaching 65 years of age as shown below, in line with the gradual raising of the age for the start of full pension payments from 60 to 65 years of age. The upper age limit was 63 years old in FY 2008.

Working Hours and Leave System

• Leave System

The leave system applied to pre-retirement employees is applied to re-employed public employees (annual leave, sick leave, special leave and nursing leave).

However, the annual leave of short-time workers is calculated by the formula below and set within 20 days according to their working hours and work patterns.

* Regular part-time employees (Case 1 and 2 above; the same weekly working days and the same daily working hours)
20 days × the number of working days per week / 5 days
(Note) When an employee who falls under Case 1 or 2 takes hour-based annual leave, the number of annual leave days taken is calculated based on his/her daily working hours.

* Irregular part-time employees (Employees other than regular part-time employees. Case 3 above)
160 hours × the number of working hours per week / 40 hours / 8 hours
(Hours not longer than one-day working hours are rounded off.)

Annual leave is newly given to re-employed employees. For example, therefore, the number of annual leave days taken before and after retirement is not summed up even when an employee is re-employed on the day after the fixed retirement day.

In the case of a hiring period extension, the annual leave days before completion of the re-employment period are calculated.

Remuneration

• Pay Step Increase System

None

A certain monthly salary is set for re-employed employees depending on each grade of duty. The monthly salary is paid to re-employed employees according to the grade of duty after re-employment. The monthly salary of short-time workers is calculated in proportion to their working hours.

<Monthly salary for full-time employees>

Allowances

Major allowances paid to re-employed employees are listed below. Life-related allowances paid to deal with increases of living costs according to the life stage, based on long-term continued employment, and allowances primarily designed to retain human resources (family, housing, family-unattended-transfer, cold area, remote area and other allowances) are not paid to re-employed employees.

Allowances paid to re-employed employees (Example)

• * Commuter Allowance
• * Area Allowance (excluding allowances paid exceptionally)
• * Overtime Allowance
• * Night Duty Allowance
• * Hardship Duty Allowance
• * End-of-term and Diligence Allowance
• * Holiday Pay
• * Day/Night Watch Duty Allowance
• * Salary Adjustment Pay

An equivalent of a 2.35-month salary (for standard performers) is paid annually as the End-of-term and Diligence Allowance in addition to the monthly salary to ensure an appropriate and reasonable annual remuneration.

Others

• The discipline, efficiency, change-in-status system, fairness, accident compensation system applied to re-employed employees is basically the same as those applied to pre-retirement employees.
• Dispatch to international organizations, exchange through dispatch under the personnel exchange program between the government and the private sector, and the Self-development Leave are not applied to full-time employees. In addition to these, the Child Care Leave System and the Short-time Working System for Child Care are not applied to short-time employees.
• Retirement Allowance is not paid to re-employed employees. Only full-time employees can join the Mutual Aid Association (the membership criteria of the Employees' Pension Insurance and the Health Insurance are applied to short-time workers.).
• Full-time employees join the Employment Insurance scheme while short-time workers join the insurance scheme depending on their working hours.
• Accommodation is provided to full-time re-employed employees, as is the case with pre-retirement full-time employees. Regarding short-time workers, accommodation is provided only when the employee engages in duties for which free accommodation is provided based on the current accommodation system.

Information

Post-retirement Life Planning

Health, family and household finances later in life vary widely. Therefore, it is very important to consider post-retirement life planning in accordance with individual life conditions.

The NPA produces and distributes booklets, "How to Take the Next Step – Post-retirement Life Planning –", which contains information useful in consideration of post-retirement life planning, retirement allowance, pension benefits, social insurances, and health management, and "Selection of Post-retirement Work" which summarizes attitudes to find a job proactively in the non-public sector, utilizing ability, knowledge and experience, and points to found a private company. The NPA also holds the "Life Planning Seminar" for employees in their early 50's.

[Reference]

Attitude toward Post-retirement Work among Public Employees in their 50s

(1) Hope for and purpose of post-retirement employment

As many as 90% employees "hope to work" after retirement, of whom 84% cited "to earn a living" as a major purpose.

(2) Hope for re-employment in the public sector and desired work pattern

Of those who hope to work after retirement, 26% "hope for re-employment in the public sector" while 43% "hope to work regardless of the public or private sector".

Of those who hope for re-employment in the public sector, 42% hoped for "full-time employment", 43% hoped for "short-time working", and 15% had "no preference".