Contents of the Worker Dispatch Contract

Plain-language explanation

Article 26 of Japan's Worker Dispatch Act sets out the mandatory contents that must be included in a "worker dispatch contract" (労働者派遣契約) between a staffing agency (派遣元) and the client company using the dispatched workers (派遣先). Required items typically include the specific duties the dispatched worker will perform, the work location, who will supervise and direct the worker, the dispatch period, working days/hours, safety and health measures, and complaint-handling procedures. The purpose is to prevent vague, verbal arrangements and ensure dispatched workers know their actual working conditions in writing, which is a core worker-protection mechanism under the Act.

This contract is not just paperwork — it's the legal backbone referenced throughout the rest of the Act. Other provisions (such as Articles 44, 46, and 47) determine how labor standards, industrial safety, and health measurement laws apply to dispatched workers based specifically on what this contract states. For example, whether a flextime or variable working-hour arrangement can lawfully apply to a dispatched worker depends on whether that arrangement is expressly authorized "based on the worker dispatch contract" under Article 26.

For business owners, this means that when drafting or reviewing a dispatch contract, missing or vague terms aren't just a compliance risk on paper — they can directly affect which labor laws apply, who bears liability in a workplace accident, and whether working-hour arrangements are even valid. HR and legal teams should treat this contract as the definitive rulebook governing the dispatched worker's relationship with the client company.

日本語での解説

Common scenarios

• ▸人材派遣会社が新規に派遣先企業と契約を結ぶ際の契約書作成
• ▸派遣先企業がフレックスタイム制など特殊な労働時間制度を派遣労働者に適用する際の契約内容の確認
• ▸派遣労働者が就業中に労働災害に遭った際、指揮命令者や責任所在を契約書に基づいて確認する場面
• ▸派遣労働者から業務内容や労働条件についての苦情が出た際、契約書記載事項と実態の相違をチェックする場面
• ▸監督官庁の立入調査で労働者派遣契約の記載事項の適法性が確認される場面