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Nurse with baby forced to retire for being unable to work midnight shift

A nurse at a Japanese Red Cross Society hospital who rejected night-shifts in order to take care of her baby was forced to give up her full-time position and become a part-timer.

The 33-year-old nurse had applied, before she gave birth, for one year child-care leave as well as her exemption from night-shifts after her return to work. However, the head nurse told her, "You will have to quit if you can't work on night-shifts. If you want to continue to work here, you need to become a non-regular staff."

Because her family can't live on her husband's income alone, she had no other choice than to become a non-regular staff against her will. Before she took the one year child-care leave, she signed a contract as a non-regular nurse to be renewed every year.

When she resumed her work as a part-timer on day duty, her base salary decreased from 260,000 yen a month to 10,200 a day, and her monthly income dropped to 170,000~190,000 yen after taxes.

Last May, she became a full-time nurse again thanks to her experience of 13 years. However, she feels anxiety that she may have to give up her full-time position and become a non-regular nurse again when she has another baby.

The Japanese Red Cross Society in a comment stated, "The Society has been instructing our hospitals to give night-shift exemptions in accordance with the law. This case is a surprise to us."

Ohta Chieko, the chair of the Japanese Red Cross Society Workers Union, said, "It is against the Labor Standard Law that a nurse is forced to retire on the ground that she cannot take night-shifts. We've heard of some more cases like this though many nurses have been granted night-shift exemptions. We will increase our efforts so that both men and women in such situations can continue to work as full-time employees."
- Akahata, June 16, 2006






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