Power company failed to pay workers 6.5-billion yen for overtime

Two-thirds or 11,950 of Chubu Electric Power Company employees have been forced to work overtime without pay. The total amount of money these workers can collect in back pay is 6.52 billion yen.

In September and December CEPCO conducted surveys to grasp the actual situation of overtime work, including previous work, after receiving a reprimand from the Labor Standards Inspection Office in June for forced unpaid overtime work that was prevalent at CEPCO.

The surveys show that between April 2001 and December 2002, a single worker worked an average of 146 hours overtime or seven hours a month. An average of 448,000 yen per worker remains to be paid. Between January and June 2003, 1,400 employees worked overtime without pay for an average of 54 hours.

In the September survey, CEPCO learned that 6,500 employees had not received their overtime pay, so they were paid 930 million yen in back pay.

Hatta Hiroko, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors, said, "What happened at CEPCO is a reminder that we should not keep quiet and that if we expose and stand up against illegal unpaid overtime work, things will definitely be improved." CEPCO should take preventive measures such as equipping every workplace with a time recorder, Hatta added. (end)