Japan Press Weekly

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2012 December 5 - 11 TOP3 [LABOR]

NEC affiliate pays no overtime money to a retirement rejecter

An NEC subsidiary has failed to pay a large portion of overtime money to a unionized male worker in his 40s who refused to accept early retirement, revealed a union head.

Maita Tokuji, chairman of a union for individual workers in electronics and information industries (Denki-Joho Union), held a press conference on December 6 and accused NEC Learning, Ltd. of attempting to retaliate against the worker who decided to remain at work.

NEC recruited voluntary retirees in July and a more-than-expected 2,393 workers applied for the early retirement program.

The worker targeted was pressured to leave the company in a total of 12 personal interviews during the period between May and late July. The company hinted that it could transfer him to Syria which was in a state of civil war if he kept refusing to retire, the union chair said.

The company changed this worker’s work assignments and routine in July and began excluding his extra work from monthly overtime allowances of 60,000 yen on average, resulting in a decrease in his yearly income by one million yen, including the seasonal bonuses.

What is more, the NEC affiliate manipulated his time-clock records. In July, for example, he worked overtime for 19.5 hours but the overtime pay he received was equivalent to only a few hours. With this falsification, the company is evading paying him for the 16-hour monthly overtime.

Related past article
> Workers beat back mass layoffs by major electronics firms [August 23 & 24, 2012]
> Electronics workers share info concerning 132,000-job cuts [September 16 & 18, 2012]