I am not sure what it is about Interac and pregnancy, but they really don’t seem to be on the same page as the rest of the work force in Japan. The case in point is concerning Michael Collison and I first learned about his case on the website of a Japanese activist named Arudou Debito. Fortunately for Interac, I did not hear of the case until several months after the fact and it seems that Mr Collison has simply chosen to put the matter behind him rather than to pursue legal action. A very brief synopsis here is followed by a link to Arudou Debito’s original post.
Synopsis:
1) Mr Collison is an excellent teacher and has the reviews to prove it.
2) Mr Collison’s wife has a miscarriage.
3) Mr Collison has to take some time off of work to deal with funeral arrangements
4) Mr Collison is fired, Interac claims it is for “performance issues and missing work” (the performance claims are disproven by his excellent reviews).
5) Interac attempts to force Mr Collison to sign resignation papers, going so far as to tell him that he could not leave the office until he signed them (this is horribly illegal).
I really wish that Mr Collison had contacted us when this happened because I can garantee you that this kind of thing will NOT happen to any union member. A strong union can prevent this kind of thing from happening to its members, and can right these kinds of labor issues even after they have begun to go sour, all it takes is the initiative to contact us and the willingness to fight. This is not a criticism of Mr Collison, I certainly cannot imagine the pain he and his family have had to deal with, I just wish we would have had the oppurtunity to try and help. Workers in Japan are all garanteed to have time off for bereavement, and it seems that Interac is unaware of this fact.
A link to the original post: