March 20, 2021

The Tokyo District Court on March 19 ruled that a private high school dismissed a female contract lecturer with the aim of evading its legal obligation to convert her employment contract into an open-ended one, ordering the school to pay the plaintiff back wages dating back to the termination of employment and compensation for damages.

The plaintiff was employed at Tsurukawa High School in Tokyo’s Machida City as a full-time lecturer on a fixed-term contract. Although she performed the same duties as regular teaching staff, her contract was abruptly terminated in March 2018.

In the legal battle, she claimed that the school terminated her contract in order to prevent her from exercising the right to claim an open-ended employment contract in April 2018 under the revised Labor Contract Act. In addition, she said that the school dismissed her because she belonged to a labor union at the school, which constitutes an unfair labor practice.

Following the court ruling, the plaintiff and her legal team issued a statement demanding that the school operator accept the court decision and reinstate the plaintiff to her original teaching position.