January 9, 2020

Two male workers at a Hitachi group company, Hitachi Healthcare Systems, Inc. (HIHS), who became disabled due to work-related injuries are waging a fight against the company, demanding that the company stop forcing them to either accept distant transfer orders or resign their jobs.

HIHS in May 2019 announced a plan to close its office in Mie Prefecture and transfer 53 of the 63 Mie office employees to offices in Tokyo and Chiba, 400-450 kilometers away from Mie Prefecture. The company ordered the two disabled workers to move to the distant offices.

The two workers joined the Denki-Joho Union which organizes individual workers in the electronic and information industries as there was no union at their workplace and began urging the company to withdraw distant transfer orders and stop trying to force them to resign.

In this regard, the union on January 8 held a press conference in the Labor Ministry office building and revealed that the Mie Labor Bureau recently issued a recommendation to the Hitachi subsidiary.

The recommendation pointed out the possibility that if the company is taken to court, it will receive a court ruling recognizing the company’s act as an abuse of authority and invalidating the transfer orders. The recommendation also stated that a court will probably order the company to comply with the Labor Contracts Act which requires employers to give consideration to workers’ work-life balance.

At the press conference, one of the two workers explained his situation. The 54-year-old worker had an artificial implant after suffering industrial injuries. He said, “To move to Tokyo or Chiba will make it difficult for me to receive the proper joint replacement care. In addition, I need to care for my elderly parents.”

The Denki-Joho Union criticized parent company Hitachi for carrying out downsizing measures in order to push forward with the sale of its healthcare IT division.