The Osaka Labor Bureau will ask Nova Corp.’s caretaker administrators to confirm the home addresses of those foreign instructors who return to their home countries without receiving wages from the English conversation school chain and be responsible for paying them, the bureau announced Monday.
The firm has failed to pay foreign instructors since September.
Since Friday, 76 foreign instructors from Nova have visited the Osaka Employment Service Center for Foreigners in Kita Ward, Osaka, where the labor bureau provides consultations. The center also has received 127 telephone inquiries mostly about the unpaid wages from those concerned about whether they will receive wages after they return to their home countries.
If the Corporate Rehabilitation Law is applied to the firm, workers will have the right to receive their wages. Even if the firm goes bankrupt, the law ensures the government will pay 80 percent of the employees’ wages and retirement allowances on behalf of the firm.
Yasuo Kuwajima, head of the labor bureau, said the firm should not remove foreign instructors who have already gone back to their countries from a list of those who are eligible to receive unpaid wages on the grounds the firm could not contact them.
A 37-year-old Australian woman who visited the center Monday said she was having difficulties in paying her rent, adding that she hoped a firm to sponsor Nova’s rehabilitation would be chosen soon.
The woman also said she wanted Sahashi to appear in front of Nova instructors and staff members because he had caused so much trouble for so many people.
The General Union, which represents many Nova instructors as members, held a briefing session Monday in Osaka
The union agreed to ask Nova’s caretaker administrators to ensure the firm cooperates in making the necessary documents for available for Nova employees to apply for unemployment insurance benefits.
