Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 17 - 23 TOP3 [LABOR]

Court nullifies dismissal of man who asked for protection

Following a court nullification of the dismissal of a man who asked for protection from secondhand smoke, the Japan Society for Tobacco Control on October 16 called on the Labor Ministry to take measures to prevent similar disputes from occurring in work places.

The decision was made by the Tokyo District Court on August 23 in favor of a 35-year-old plaintiff, who claimed that he suffered from acute symptoms caused by exposure to secondhand smoke during his probation period.

Since the man began to work as a life and non-life insurance agent in November 2009, he experienced palpitations, coughing spell, and insomnia due to secondhand smoke from his president who is a heavy smoker.

After asked by the plaintiff to smoke at a balcony, the president in December encouraged him to resign from the company. When he refused to accept the offer, the president ordered him to take one month leave of absence, and then decided on January 31, 2010 not to enroll him as a regular employee after the trial period.

The ruling recognized the president’s action as an abuse of an employer’s rights, stating that the company is responsible for protecting the plaintiff’s health from risks of secondhand smoke. It also ordered the company to pay him 4.75 million yen in back wages for the period that he was banned from working.

The plaintiff’s lawyer stressed that the ruling clearly pointed to employers’ responsibility to give consideration to safety regarding exposure to secondhand smoke. He said that measures will be increasingly needed to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke in working environments.