Japan Press Weekly

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2012 November 28 - December 4 [LABOR]

High court OKs JAL’s dismissal of cabin attendant

In a lawsuit where a former Japan Airline contracted cabin attendant (CA) sought to get her job back, the Tokyo High Court on November 29 upheld the lower court’s ruling and approved the carrier’s termination of the contract.

The plaintiff is a 28-year-old member of the Japan Airlines Cabin Crew Union (CCU). She was denied the second renewal of her one-year-contract because, the company claimed, she lacked the qualities that a cabin attendant needs.

The CA argued that her boss disliked her and thus rated her job performance unfairly low, harassed her, and tried to force her to leave the company. She kept refusing to resign and her contract was terminated.

The judgment approved the dismissal saying that the performance evaluation was not made unfairly or arbitrarily.

However, the court ruled that to force her to quit job was illegal and ordered the carrier to pay 200,000 yen in compensation to the former CA.

At the news conference held after the ruling, the plaintiff said, “The company has not made an apology for the imposition of resignation yet. I want it to apologize to me.” She is considering whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Related past articles
> JAL contract cabin attendant fights for return to flight duty [May 20, 2011]

> Court rules JAL’s harassment against CA illegal [November 1, 2011]