Okinawa Company Denies Hiring People with Disabilities and Prohibiting Contact with Employer

By Barrier Free Japan

May 10 2026

Naha – In a case where disabled persons working from home were employed by large companies through a disability employment agency but were not given any actual work, it has been revealed that “Thanks Lab” (Naha City), the agency that brokered the employment, had requested people with disabilities not to contact their employers directly in cases of absence or other issues.

It appears that some disabled persons perceived this as a “rule” of employment and were unable to communicate their situation to their employers.

Thanks Lab operates a business that brokers employment support for disabled persons enrolled in its own welfare facilities for employment support to companies. The Yomiuri Shimbun obtained a document titled “Rules for Working from Home in Lab-Type Employment” that Thanks Lab provided to disabled persons working from home employed by companies.

The document first explains the daily flow from the start to the end of work. It requires participation in an online morning meeting and outlines procedures for reporting unexcused absences to the employer and contacting emergency contacts.

Next, regarding reports of absences, tardiness, and early departures, employees were instructed to contact a “shared group” of company staff and employees with disabilities via chat. Underlined in red, it stated, “Please do not contact the company directly. A staff member will always contact the company.”

Furthermore, employees with disabilities were referred to as “talents,” and “connections between talents via chat tools, social media, etc., are prohibited,” forbidding contact with other employees with disabilities, such as colleagues. The reason given for this was that it would “lead to trouble.”

A man in his 50s with a mental disability, residing in Kyushu, received materials from a representative of Thanks Lab when he was hired by Louis Vuitton Japan (Tokyo), the Japanese subsidiary of the French luxury brand, in November 2024. Although he underwent an online interview with Louis Vuitton during the hiring process, he did not contact Louis Vuitton afterward, following the instructions in the materials. Instead, he repeatedly “self-studied” computer skills by watching YouTube videos.

The man told reporters, “I didn’t want to be singled out for pointing out that the ‘rules’ were wrong, so I couldn’t speak up strongly. I couldn’t talk to my colleagues either, so I felt lonely.” He left Louis Vuitton in August of last year, midway through his contract, and said, “I don’t know what would have happened to me if it weren’t for the visiting nurse who listened to me.”

Thanks Lab stated in an interview, “There is no company policy that uniformly prohibits direct contact with employing companies,” adding, “The documents that appear to be in question were used in some individual cases and are no longer in use.”

On May 7th, Thanks Lab published a statement on its website saying, “We take seriously the fact that there were areas in our service operations that needed improvement. We will make every effort as a company to improve our business operations and service quality.”