On Thursday 28th October 2022, Tokyo Labour tribunal handed down a judgement ordering Tokyo International French school to pay unpaid wages to union leader Amjid Alam.
This was the second court case in 2 years as management ignores Japanese law and only pays overtime when ordered by a Japanese court.
Management argued that Mr. Alam was not eligible for overtime as ‘he should understand how the French system works by now’. This conveniently ignores the fact they are bound by the law of their host nation, and they are not in France.
The school is well aware of this fact as it is clearly explained by the AEFE, the agency which oversees the running of the school, that local law must be respected.
During the final hearing on Thursday 27th October 2022, management tried to pressure Mr. Alam to sign a strict non-disclosure agreement to prevent him informing others of what occured in court in exchange for agreeing to pay the overtime he was owed. This was rejected outright as it was not beneficial to the union.
Unfortunately, the school has decided not to respect Japanese law over and over again. In fact they have not paid overtime that is legally owed for 2022. So this struggle may continue.
Management has 2 weeks to appeal the decision. We will post an update if they choose to do so.
