ブラック企業 (burakku kigyō)

What it means

1. 1.

   An exploitative employer: unpaid overtime, impossible quotas, bullying, staff who leave within the year. A recognised category in public debate rather than a private joke.

Examples with translations

• あそこ完全にブラック企業だから辞めた。

  That place was a sweatshop, so I quit.

• 求人がホワイトかブラックか見極めないと。

  You have to work out whether a job advert is above board or not.

  Note: ホワイト企業 is the opposite: a decent employer.

Where it comes from

Coined online in the early 2000s by IT workers and pushed into national politics by campaigning over 過労死 (karōshi), death from overwork. The Ministry of Health now publishes a list of offending firms, which is as institutional as slang gets.

First attested: early 2000s

Other forms

Romanised as:

burakku kigyō