Learn in the textbookCorporate Governance and Administrative / Environmental Laws
DefinitionThe Whistleblower Protection Act (公益通報者保護法) shields workers and other whistleblowers from dismissal and other unfavorable treatment when they report their employer's violations of law to a recipient the Act designates.
ExplanationPossible recipients include the employer's internal hotline, an administrative body with authority over the matter, and outside parties such as the media, and the further outside the recipient, the stricter the conditions for protection. The aim is to let insiders who know of wrongdoing speak up without fear, so that corporate misconduct is found and corrected early. A 2020 amendment, in force from 2022, extended protection beyond workers to people within one year of leaving the job and to officers.
AnalogyIt is like a rule that keeps a player who reports a foul to the referee from being benched for having spoken up.
Memory hookSplit the Japanese name into 'public interest' (公益), 'whistleblower' (通報者) and 'protection' (保護), and the purpose, who is protected and the effect can be read straight off it.