It was revealed in parliament that the Labour Minister had agreed to suspend legal restrictions on overtime for workers at nuclear power plants operated by Kyushu Electric. The operation of all nuclear power plants was suspended after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, but, despite stiff public resistance, the government has stated its intention to resume operation as soon as possible, after each one of them passes a safety inspection. The Labour Minister has the authority to suspend overtime restrictions in the “public interest”.

In a telephone call to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Kyushu Electric confirmed that they had requested the government to suspend restrictions on overtime, but that they had no further comment.