Japan Press Weekly

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2013 April 24 - May 7 [LABOR]

High court rules ex-Bloomberg reporter’s dismissal to be invalid

The Tokyo High Court on April 24 ruled that the dismissal of a former Japanese reporter by the Bloomberg Tokyo office is invalid, upholding the lower court decision.

Bloomberg L.P., a U.S. news agency specializing in business and financial news, in August 2010 dismissed the news reporter under the pretext that he could not meet the target the company set, although the agency intentionally imposed an unachievable goal on him.

The discharged worker joined a union for individual workers, which is affiliated with the Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers’ Unions, and has been seeking for the cancellation of his dismissal in court. The Tokyo District Court in October 2012 ruled in favor of the worker, and the company appealed to the higher court.

The employer argued that because Bloomberg is a foreign company and its employment practice is different from most Japanese companies, the news agency should be allowed to terminate employment contracts more flexibly.

The High Court dismissed the appeal stating that the company’s argument did not provide sufficient reason for the discharge of the plaintiff.

The court acknowledged that the news writer’s job performance was by no means inferior to that of his colleagues.

Related past article
> Ex-Bloomberg reporter wins nullification of his dismissal [October 6, 2012]