July 13, 2012
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2012 July 11 - 17 [LABOR]
Court invalidates punishment imposed on driving school teacher |
The plaintiff is an instructor of a driving school in Kyoto’s Uji City. He is a member of the Kyoto driving school union, affiliated with the Zenroren National Union of General Workers (Zenkoku-Ippan). He expressed his satisfaction with the verdict, saying, “Some colleagues were punished because of their union membership. This victory has great significance for all workers.”
In September 2009, during a driving lesson on an expressway, a flying scrap of iron struck in the car body. The school management penalized the instructor with a wage cut and gave him a two-week suspension along with an abrupt notice of transference to the sales department on the pretext of “unsafe driving”. Moreover, he was forced to pay the cost for repairing the car.
The worker brought his case against the school management to the Kyoto District Court to nullify the disciplinary measures and obtain monetary compensation in April 2010. The judge ruled that the punishment was valid, while recognizing the accident investigation conducted by the management was insufficient.
This January, the Osaka High Court overturned the lower court ruling, ordering the management to pay the plaintiff 800,000 yen in compensation. The decision stated that the management committed tort as it forcibly punished the worker without making a proper investigation into the accident, prevented the union from conducting a survey, and gave him no opportunity to defend himself. On June 22, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal from the management.
Baba Takao, leader of a group supporting the plaintiff, pointed out that the school management has repeatedly disregarded the labor-management agreement and attacked the union. “I hope to make this victory ta starting point to restore normal relations between labor and management,” he said.
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