Ministry investigates non-bank money lender suspected of forcing workers to work overtime without pay

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare on January 9 investigated the offices of Japan's largest non-bank money lender Takefuji Corp. on suspicion of violating the Labor Standards Law by forcing its workers to work overtime without pay.

The Osaka Labor Bureau searched seven Takefuji offices including its headquarters in Tokyo, on the suspicion that Takefuji employees in Osaka were forced to work extra overtime in violation of the labor contract.

The labor bureau started investigating the allegation in July, 2001 following a complaint filed by former employees in Osaka about their unpaid forced overtime work at Takefuji. Onki Takeshi, one of these workers, brought the case to the Osaka District Court in April, 2001 demanding that the company pay him 4.2 million yen in back pay for his overtime work.

The September 22, 2002, issues of Akahata's Sunday edition reported that 29-year-old Onki was only paid for 479 hours of overtime work for two years although he worked 2,552 extra hours.

According to Onki, Takefuji is also violating human rights by checking workers' personal belongings. (end)