The Japan Labor Flash No.34 2005
Email Journal March 15, 2005
Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
District court rules that overwork caused doctor's suicide; cancels
non-payment of compensation to bereaved family …etc.
Public Policies
The National Personnel Authority to recommend across-the-board
reductions in the base pay of national public employees
Public Policies
Nissan to triple its number of female managers …etc.
Public Policies
New moves in performance-based compensation
Statistical Reports
-Recent Statistical Survey Reports February 2005-
Features
Basic Survey on Wage Structure by Prefectures (Preliminary Report, 2004)
Report on Manpower Dispatching Business (FY2003) …etc.
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2005/e2005-02.htm
Current Topics
-District court rules that overwork caused doctor's suicide; cancels
non-payment of compensation to bereaved family-
Kyodo News reported that on February 22, the Mito District Court,
on a case where the father (75) of a hospital doctor (29 at the
time of death) claimed that overwork drove his son to suicide,
ruled that the son's suicide was attributable to his work at the
hospital. The father had demanded the Tsuchiura Labour Standards
Inspection Office Commissioner that the non-payment order of family
compensation for his son's death be cancelled; the court declared
said action nullity. According to plaintiff representatives, while
several cases exist where overwork was recognized, at the Labour
Standards Inspection Office level, as the cause of suicide by a
doctor, this is the first time this has so been recognized in court.
The presiding judge acknowledged that the male doctor had worked
a monthly average of approximately 170 hours overtime, and had
developed symptoms of depression in the month prior to his death.
The judge concluded that the psychological strain experienced by
the plaintiff from his work had been strong enough to cause
depression.
The bereaved family filed a request for family compensation with
the Tsuchiura Labour Standards Inspection Office in April 1997.
The Labour Standards Inspection Office, however, denied to recognize
a link between the doctor's work and his suicide, and reached a
non-payment decision on October of the same year.
-Thirty years of menial jobs: Court rules personnel appointments
were retaliatory in whistle-blower suit within Tonami Transportation
Co., Ltd.-
Toyama District Court reached a decision last February on the
lawsuit brought before court by an employee (58) of Tonami
Transportation Co., Ltd., a major transport company based in the
Prefecture, who alleged that he was forced to perform menial jobs
for approximately thirty years due to his role in exposing
irregularities in the trucking and transport sector, Kyodo News
reported. The employee had demanded that the company make a formal
apology and pay roughly 54 million yen in damages. The District
Court generally acknowledged the employee's assertions, stating
that the treatment received by the employee was retaliatory in
nature, and was a deviation from the scope of discretionary authority
of personnel management, and ordered Tonami Transportation to pay
approximately 13.6 million yen to the plaintiff. With the passing
of the Law Concerning the Protection of Whistleblowers who Disclose
Information in the Public Interest, which prohibits the prejudicial
treatment of inside informants in in-house whistle-blowing cases,
and its enforcement in April 2006, this case showed that such
whistleblowers can look to the legal system for protection. The
presiding judge pointed out that the Tonami Transportation employee
had acted in the public interest when he exposed the setting of
artificially high prices and illegal cartels within the trucking
industry. The judge reprimanded the company, saying that the
justifiable whistleblower was entitled to legal protection, and that
treating him unfairly was illegal.
Regarding compensation for damages, meanwhile, although the court
recognized that Tonami Transportation had failed in its duty to
exercise appropriate personnel appointments regarding the plaintiff,
thereby violating the terms of their employment contract, it rejected
all claims for compensation dating back more than ten years before
January 2002, when the lawsuit was filed, stating that the statute
of limitations placed on the right to claim compensation for damage
had expired.
The court also declined from ordering Tonami Transportation to
issue a written apology. The plaintiff plans to file an appeal.
US$=\104 (March 15, 2005)
Public Policies
-The National Personnel Authority to recommend across-the-board
reductions in the base pay of national public employees-
The National Personnel Authority, in recommendations due out this
summer, will call for an overhaul of the salary system of national
public employees. Proposed measures will include across-the-board
reductions in the base pay to rectify the gap between public and
private wages, as well as the establishment of compensation packages
that provide additional local allowances to staff members working in
Tokyo and other city regions where private wages surpass those of the
public sector, to maintain current wage levels.
These recommendations are to be made in light of the pay received
by regional public employees criticized as being excessively high
when compared to that of private companies.
Because municipal governments determine the salary structure of
regional public employees based on the standards set for national
public employees, it is hoped that this overhaul will lead to salary
reductions among regional public employees, contributing to the
curbing of personnel costs at regional municipalities.
It is thought that these recommendations are based on the
understanding within the Koizumi cabinet, which advocates small
government and sets forth administrative and fiscal reform as its
major policy theme, of the importance not only of controlling annual
spending for fiscal reconstruction, but also of appealing to the
general public the administrative agencies' painstaking efforts to
cut back on their own pay while correcting the imbalance between
public and private sector wages, namely, higher for the former and
lower for the latter, thereby fostering and increasing people's support.
As for specific reduction rates, according to a study carried out
by the National Personnel Authority, the maximum disparity in wages
seen in FY04 between the public and private sectors among the regions
was 4.77%. Thus, if the decrease in public wages is set to meet the
salary standards of the private sector in regions with the lowest pay
rates, the rate of reduction would be 5%. However, further twists and
turns may also occur.
Public Policies
-Nissan to triple its number of female managers-
Ten years after the World Conference on Women in Beijing which aimed
for the equality of all women, Carlos Ghosn, President of Nissan Motor
Co., Ltd., announced at a speech in Tokyo that his company would triple
the number of its female managers from 40 to 120 in the three years to
the end of FY2007, raising the percentage of women who occupy management
positions from 1.6% to 5%.
Ghosn, citing the fact that most popular lines owned by Nissan tend
to cater to male consumers, expressed his hope of incorporating female
perspectives to woo women to Nissan cars. He then stated the importance
of placing women employees in decision-making positions. Ghosn sees
these goals as imperative, and plans to include achievement levels in
these areas in evaluating the performance of managers throughout the
company.
While Nissan USA boasts a high percentage of female managers, at
20%, levels in Japan fall below the 2.8% average for all industries
within the country. Until now, Ghosn has been stressing that female
power was crucial in increasing Nissan's corporate value, making clear
his plans to utilize more women in the future.
(Asahi Shimbun, February）
-Fuji Television labor union says N0! to Livedoor-
Commenting on the mass purchase of Nippon Broadcasting System shares
by Livedoor, an IT-related service company that requests a business
alliance with Nippon Broadcasting and group member Fuji Television
Network, an executive of Fuji TV's labor union announced that it says
"NO!" to Livedoor's forceful business participation as having
ignored
the "heart and soul" of all Fuji TV employees.
The union expressed support for Fuji TV's lowering of Nippon
Broadcasting System's minimal price per share in the takeover bid
(TOB) system and other Fuji TV countermeasures, saying, "From the
standpoint of protecting the working conditions and environment of
all employees, we agree with Fuji TV's current stance and are opposed
to managerial control by Livedoor."
The feud between Livedoor and Fuji TV is attracting attention as
a case of corporate acquisition in the media industry, for which
there are very few precedents in Japan.
(Yomiuri Shimbun, February)
Public Policies
-New moves in performance-based compensation-
Ten years have passed since the performance-based compensation
system was introduced with great fanfare at Japanese companies, long
known for their "follow the majority" mentality. Japan Labor
Flash
has previously showed survey results that point to the fact that not
many companies claim to have reaped substantial benefits of performance
-based compensation, and that the system is not as highly evaluated
among company employees as the management would like to think.
Even if a company wishes to scrap the seniority system, it often
finds it difficult to carry out job analysis or establish systems
of evaluation that are satisfactory to all, and the current situation
is such that "performance-based system" is still in name only.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2005/no.34/34_si.html
