Japan: Worker's pay cut for taking lunch-break 3 minutes early
The Japanese take their work ethics way too seriously, and you would sometimes not want to be a part of this culture. Apparently, a Japanese worker was fined because he took his lunch break early, three minutes before the scheduled time. The officer worked at waterworks bureau in Kobe and was reprimanded for leaving his desk early.
After punishing him, bosses held press conference to apologize
The 64-year-old senior officer had his half day's salary docked as a punishment. His seniors claimed he took his lunch breaks before 1 PM, 26 times in the last seven months. After punishing him, the bosses addressed a press conference to apologize for his actions. "It's deeply regrettable that this misconduct took place. We're sorry," the bosses said and bowed down.
This incident brings to attention Japan's overwork culture
The officials said the worker's behavior violated public service law that stated personnel to only concentrate on their jobs. This incident has put the spotlight on Japan's work-life balance once again. Notably, in 2015, a 24-year-old employee Matsuri Takahashi killed herself after being forced to work over 100 hours overtime, even on weekends.
The statistics: Overwork is killing Japan's employees
A 2016 report concluded that one-fifth of Japan's workforce is at risk from overwork. Many employees died due to heart attacks, strokes or committed suicide every year. 22.7% of companies accepted some of their employees logged more than 80 hours of overtime every month.
Meanwhile, social media users come to Japanese worker's defense
After this incident, many Twitter users jumped to the employee's defense. One user pointed out he left his desk early only once every week, on an average. Another one wrote: What about all the politicians who sleep in parliament? They ought to be fired, then. There were others who wondered what happened to those who took smoke or toilet breaks.
