October 29, 2013
The Nagano District Court Ueda Branch on October 28 regarded a lighting equipment maker’s dismissal as null and void, ordering the maker to pay a plaintiff back wages.
The lawsuit was filed by a 50-year-old worker, Hotta Kazuko, against the Tokyo-based lighting equipment manufacturer Goko Co., Ltd., demanding that her dismissal be retracted.
Hotta in July 2006 started to work at the Goko factory in Nagano Prefecture. At the end of October 2012 she was assigned to do a job of electrical arc welding which uses methanol. She soon experienced health problems due to methanol poisoning. The company president on November 7 ordered Hotta to resign from her job. Even though she showed reluctance to give up her job, the company on December 10 dismissed her.
At a news conference after the court decision, Hotta said, “I want to return to my workplace as soon as possible.” Saikyo Shin’ichi, chair of the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU)-Nagano which supported Hotta’s court battle, said, “This is a victory for workers who raised their voices against the corporation’s arbitrary dismissal. The lighting equipment maker should reinstate her in her workplace without delay.”
The lawsuit was filed by a 50-year-old worker, Hotta Kazuko, against the Tokyo-based lighting equipment manufacturer Goko Co., Ltd., demanding that her dismissal be retracted.
Hotta in July 2006 started to work at the Goko factory in Nagano Prefecture. At the end of October 2012 she was assigned to do a job of electrical arc welding which uses methanol. She soon experienced health problems due to methanol poisoning. The company president on November 7 ordered Hotta to resign from her job. Even though she showed reluctance to give up her job, the company on December 10 dismissed her.
At a news conference after the court decision, Hotta said, “I want to return to my workplace as soon as possible.” Saikyo Shin’ichi, chair of the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU)-Nagano which supported Hotta’s court battle, said, “This is a victory for workers who raised their voices against the corporation’s arbitrary dismissal. The lighting equipment maker should reinstate her in her workplace without delay.”
