Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 October 30 - November 5 [WELFARE]

Court finds city illegally turned down applications for welfare benefits of Osaka couple

The Osaka District Court on October 31 ordered Kishiwada City to retract its rejection of applications for welfare benefits from a couple and to pay them around 700,000 yen in compensation.

The husband who is in his 40s, after his employment contract was terminated, could not get any job for a long time. Suffering from dire poverty, the husband and wife submitted applications for welfare benefits five times to the Kishiwada City government in Osaka Prefecture. However, the city turned them down arguing that he was young, healthy, and capable of working.

The court said that in evaluating the working ability of applicants, the city should give consideration to not only their ages and health conditions, but also how hard their living conditions are. The court ruled that the city’s rejections were illegal.

Lawyer Bito Hiroki praised the court ruling for ordering the city to take into consideration the actual living conditions of the applicants. The judgment counters the government’s move to discourage those who are eligible for welfare benefits from applying for it, he added.

The husband at a press conference after the ruling said, “Now that this judgment was made, I hope others in positions like us will be able to survive using the livelihood protection system without having to deal with their applications being rejected.”