Recently, my boss sent a sudden message on the office group chat ordering us to come to work early in the morning without explanation, so we all rushed to work. But when we were almost there, the boss suddenly texted us to come to work at our usual time. We get such group texts from our boss at all times of day, including around midnight, after lunch, and after work. We get the texts when it’s not an urgent situation, and they tend to be very emotional. For employees who do not respond, my boss sends angry messages through the group chat. Wouldn't this be workplace harassment under the Labor Standards Act?
The recent revision of the Labor Standards Act (LSA) prohibits harassment in the workplace. “Workplace harassment” is an act, by an employer or an employee, that involves using their position or relationships in the workplace to inflict physical or mental suffering on other employees or to aggravate the work environment to a level exceeding occupationally bearable limits.
For an action to be considered workplace harassment, four areas are considered:
(1) The alleged perpetrator must be:
■ A business owner or person responsible for the management of a business, or a person working on behalf of the business owner with respect to matters relating to workers (Article 2 of the LSA);
■ The using employer of dispatched employees; or
■ The CEO, HR director, plant manager, etc. This criterion shall be determined to be met not by the formal position or job rank, but by the details of job responsibilities.

(2) The alleged targets of harassment:
■ There are no criteria related to type of employment or terms of the labor contract.

(3) Location of harassment:
■ The location where harassment takes place is not required to be the premises of a business establishment;
■ If harassment occurs away from the office, during the performance of duties, during a business trip, during a company dinner or company event, or even within a private residence, it can be recognized as workplace harassment;
■ If it occurs online, including through intranet messages or social media networks, it can constitute workplace harassment.

(4) For an act to be considered harassment, it must satisfy three core elements:
1) It involves the use of one’s superior position or working relationship in the workplace
■ “Superior position” refers to a relationship in which resistance or refusal by the target of the harassment is difficult, and the alleged harasser must have taken advantage of this relationship. This term refers to the higher position in a command/instruction relationship, but even when no direct command/instruction relationship exists, if a higher job rank or job position system is used, this would be included in “superior position.”
■ This can include all relations judged to involve de facto superiority. Several elements can influence superiority in relations including superiority in numbers, such as a group versus an individual; personal attributes including age, educational attainment, gender, place of origin, or race; membership in employee organizations including trade unions or work councils; work competencies, such as seniority or expertise; influence in type of work within the workplace; and employment status.
2) The behavior exceeds occupationally bearable limits
■ Employers are not required to take actions as prescribed in the LSA for all personal conflicts in the workplace. Therefore, even if superiority of one person over another in alleged harassment is recognized, the act in question must arise from a situation relevant to work. Relevance to work here should be understood to mean “comprehensive relevance to work.”
■ Therefore, even if an employee may feel discontent over work directions, admonition, or instruction, it cannot be recognized as harassment in the workplace if the conduct is recognized as necessary for work in light of social norms.
■ Problematic conduct may be recognized as exceeding occupationally bearable limits, if:
- the conduct concerned is not recognized as necessary to the performance of duties in light of social norms, or
- even if it is necessary to perform duties, the patterns of conduct are recognized as inappropriate in light of social norms.
3) Physical or mental suffering is inflicted or the work environment deteriorated
■ An act that deteriorates the work environment can be defined as one that interferes with the capability of the alleged target to carry out their duties to an extent that can no longer be ignored.
■ If an act inflicts physical or mental suffering or aggravates the work environment, even if it was not intended to do so, it will likely be recognized as harassment.
In your case, judging from the requirements above, your situation has met the requirements for harassment: there is a perpetrator, targets of harassment, and a related location of harassment. Furthermore, your boss used his position to order employees like you to come to work early, and also initiated group chats with you and your coworkers at all hours of the day, even at midnight. He has used this group chat to simply express his feelings, and it's hard to justify that this act is necessary for work. Furthermore, you are suffering physical and mental difficulty due to such actions by your boss, which constitutes "workplace harassment" under the Labor Standards Act, so you can request that the HR team of your company take appropriate measures or you can file a petition with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the National Human Rights Commission if it is unreasonably difficult to resolve internally.