Even though, violation of Article 17 of the Labor Standards Act is discussed separately, the signing of an labor contract shall be deemed to have the legal effect of an labor contract if it is signed with real intention by the parties in any way, such as by signature, affixation of signature and seal, or certified a digital signature under the Digital Signature Act.

On the other hand, according to the Article 17 of the Labor Standards Act, the employer shall issue a written document to the employee stating the wage and the prescribed working hours. Here, “a written document” means a document with certain contents and distinguished from electronic documents such as e-mail, but electronic documents can be recognized as “a written document” under certain requirements.

When signing an labor contract with an electronic document, to prevent disputes concerning the labor contract in advance, it is necessary to clarify that the agreements of both parties concerned concur with the labor contract as stated in the electronic labor agreement by electronically recording the document including the signature of the party if possible, or by electronically signing it by “Electronic Signature Act.” It is also desirable to have a system for the prevention of forgery and alteration so that neither party can arbitrarily modify it after the final creation or signature.

If the e-labor contract is only stored on the company server, even if the employee could print it by himself/herself, it cannot be considered as the employer completed the duty of delivering contractual documents. When an employee designates an information processing system (e-mail, etc.) to receive an electronic labor contract and the employer inputs (sends) an electronic labor contract to the information processing system, it can be seen as the employer issued the labor contract. It is difficult to see it as a violation of Article 17 of the Labor Standards Act. However, if the employee does not consent to receive via the information processing system, the employer must issue the labor contract directly.