Japan Press Weekly

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2017 October 18 - 24 [LABOR]

Female workers at medical device maker forced to resign due to power harassment: High court

The Tokyo High Court on October 18 issued a ruling dismissing an appeal by a subsidiary of Japan’s major medical device maker Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd., and fully supporting four female workers’ claim that they were forced to resign due to power harassment.

The four workers used to work at the Fukuda Denshi subsidiary in Nagano Prefecture. They sued the company by claiming that they were driven to give up their careers after suffering from power harassment from the company president.

The Nagano District Court in May delivered a judgement ordering the company to pay the four former workers about 3.6 million yen in damages for power harassment. The court, however, failed to acknowledge that the company committed power harassment with the aim of forcing the four to quit their jobs.

The four workers joined the Japan Metal, Manufacturing, Information and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (JMITU) and urged the company to settle the issue through negotiations. The Fukuda subsidiary, however, appealed the district court judgement.

The Tokyo High Court in its ruling wholly accepted the workers’ claim and increased the amount of compensation by three million yen to about 6.6 million yen.

At a rally held after the ruling, the four workers welcomed the high court ruling. JMITU Nagano local published a statement stating that the court decision will encourage other workers struggling with power harassment at their workplaces.

Past related articles:
> Medical device maker ordered to compensate female workers for damages caused by ‘power harassment’ [May 20, 2017]