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Supreme Court knocks down discipline of mentally ill employee
By HIFUMI OKUNUKI Can a company discipline an employee for taking absence without leave if that worker could be suffering from mental illness? Just a few weeks ago, on April 27, the Supreme Court ruled against Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. in a case that posed precisely this question. The verdict illustrates the courts’ thinking on a…
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Welfare ministry to bring charges against businesses dodging employee pension plan
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to bring charges against business owners who refuse to join the employee pension program and pay insurance premiums — a violation of the Employees’ Pension Insurance Act. Starting from the current fiscal year, the ministry will file a complaint with police against businesses dodging the mandatory pension…
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No legal cure-all for fixed-term job insecurity
By HIFUMI OKUNUKI We like to think that work is about more than just making money, but the reality is that most of us have to work to earn our daily bread. A steady job is crucial for our long-term well-being. In Japan, employment contracts may be either open-ended or fixed-term. Temporary contracts are unregulated…
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Bill passed to lift temp workers’ lot but no manufacturer dispatch ban
The revision forbids dispatch agencies from contracting temporary workers for 30 days or less. Also, employers will be urged to give temp workers the same pay as regular employees if they’re doing the same work.
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47 foreign trainees pass nursing exam
A total of 47 Indonesian and Filipino nurses passed this year’s national licensing examination for nurses under a project to accept foreign trainees, the health ministry announced Monday.
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A promise of employment is binding, Supreme Court ruled in late 1970s case
[Fresh college graduates] spend a preposterous number of hours in a back-breaking, shoulder-stiffening ritual called shū katsu, drafting application documents, undergoing interviews, pretending to smile — all hell-bent on leaving a good impression and winning a saiyō naitei promise of employment from a coveted corporation.
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Wages rebound in January for 1st time in 13 months
The regular monthly wage for workers in Japan eked out a 0.3 percent gain in January from a year earlier to an average 261,074 yen.
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Berlitz court ruling unequivocal on basic right to strike
After hearing more than three years of testimony, the judge took only a minute to read the court’s verdict rejecting Berlitz Japan’s ¥110 million lawsuit against striking teachers and their union and reaffirming organized labor’s right to take industrial action.
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Oversleeping radio anchor set tough precedent for firing staff
Employers are not free to dismiss an employee whenever there are grounds for an ordinary dismissal; rather the expression of intent to dismiss constitutes an abuse of the right to [dismiss] and is therefore invalid if and when dismissal under the specific circumstances is notably illogical and cannot be accepted as reasonable according to social…
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Overwork death recognized for worker at Fukushima plant
The death last May of a man who had engaged in work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the nuclear crisis erupted there in March was recognized Friday as caused by overwork, according to a lawyer representing the man’s bereaved family.