February 14, 2025
The Japan Metal, Manufacturing, Information and Telecommunication Workers' Union (JMITU) Alphabet Union branch on February 13 held a press conference at the Labor Ministry office building to announce that a male union member filed a lawsuit three days earlier with the Tokyo District Court against the company to demand the revocation of his unfair dismissal.
The plaintiff also applied to the court for a provisional disposition for a provisional payment of salary.
According to the JMITU Alphabet Union branch which organizes workers at Google Japan, a subsidiary of the U.S. tech company Alphabet Inc., in February 2024, the plaintiff was ordered to participate in a “performance improvement program (PIP)” on the grounds that his job performance was judged as poor in the company’s employee review.
Recently, PIPs have been employed by many companies as a job-cutting tool. Undre the PIP, work goals which are abstract and difficult to achieve are assigned to targeted workers to force them to accept early resignations.
The plaintiff succeeded in meeting the stated PIP goals. However, in November 2024, he was told by the company that he was still underperforming, and was notified of his dismissal. He joined the Alphabet Union branch to push the company to withdraw the dismissal notice, but was forcibly dismissed.
At the press conference, the worker said that his performance was far superior to other workers in his team. Nevertheless, he continued to say, the company rated his performance unfairly low and put him on the PIP.
The Alphabet Union branch chair, Kobayashi Saho, said that while the company claimed that its professional team evaluated the worker properly, it failed to provide to the union an explanation for giving him low evaluations.
The plaintiff also applied to the court for a provisional disposition for a provisional payment of salary.
According to the JMITU Alphabet Union branch which organizes workers at Google Japan, a subsidiary of the U.S. tech company Alphabet Inc., in February 2024, the plaintiff was ordered to participate in a “performance improvement program (PIP)” on the grounds that his job performance was judged as poor in the company’s employee review.
Recently, PIPs have been employed by many companies as a job-cutting tool. Undre the PIP, work goals which are abstract and difficult to achieve are assigned to targeted workers to force them to accept early resignations.
The plaintiff succeeded in meeting the stated PIP goals. However, in November 2024, he was told by the company that he was still underperforming, and was notified of his dismissal. He joined the Alphabet Union branch to push the company to withdraw the dismissal notice, but was forcibly dismissed.
At the press conference, the worker said that his performance was far superior to other workers in his team. Nevertheless, he continued to say, the company rated his performance unfairly low and put him on the PIP.
The Alphabet Union branch chair, Kobayashi Saho, said that while the company claimed that its professional team evaluated the worker properly, it failed to provide to the union an explanation for giving him low evaluations.
