Japan Press Weekly

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2016 February 17 - 23 [LABOR]

Coffee shop worker reaches court-mediated-settlement over unfair dismissal

A female non-regular worker in her unfair dismissal lawsuit against a major coffee shop chain reached a settlement mediated by the Tokyo High Court on February 16.

The worker is a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Youth Union. She worked at a “Caffee Veloce” shop in Chiba Prefecture under a fixed-term contract for eight-and-a-half years by having her three-month contract renewed repeatedly, but was dismissed in June 2013.

As the reason for her dismissal, the operator of the “Caffee Veloce” coffee shop chain, Chat Noir Company cited its new employment system which was introduced three months before her dismissal. Under the system, non-regular workers will be dismissed after four years of service. Furthermore, the company said to her, “To displace workers who are no longer ‘fresh’ is necessary to maintain the ‘freshness’ of our outlets.”

The woman in July 2013 filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, claiming that the company’s new system violates the revised Labor Contract Law which requires employers to offer open-ended contracts on demand by fixed-term contract workers who worked for five years under the system of repeated renewal of their contracts. She also argued that the company’s “freshness” remarks not only constitutes gender discrimination but also undermines her human dignity. However, the district court in July 2015 issued a ruling defending the coffee shop chain’s dismissal and discriminatory remarks.

After appealing against this unfair court ruling, the laid-off worker and her union increased their efforts to obtain public support for her battle. They conducted various activities such as protest actions in front of the company’s headquarters and a signature-collection drive. This brought about a positive result. The company promised not to use the word “freshness” any more and decided to accept the court-mediated-settlement in which it will pay settlement money to the woman in exchange for her agreement on the termination of her contract.

Past related article:
> Court rejects coffee shop worker’s demand for withdrawal of unfair dismissal [August 1, 2015]