When non-Japanese employees are involved in labor disputes, Japanese companies sometimes use different strategies than usual.
One of such strategies is dismissal or demotion on the grounds of insufficient Japanese language skills. However, it is natural that people from outside Japan cannot speak like Japanese people. Companies usually hire non-Japanese staffs after having several job interviews. And through the interviews, companies should have known their language skill. Therefore, only the lack of Japanese language skills is not sufficient reason for dismissal or demotion.
Another strategy is obtaining a consent letter without sufficient explanation about employee’s rights. Due to such unfair strategy, many workers lose their opportunity to exercise their rights.
To protect your legal rights and interest, you need to find good lawyers who has experience of handling labor disputes. Because labor disputes are complex and stressful procedures, you should select someone with whom you can comfortably talk in your native language. Otherwise, you may end up distrusting the attorney due to miscommunication (even if he/she is handling your case in good faith).
Our attorney at law, Atsuro Tsujino, has many experiences in handling labor cases from both employee’s side and employer’s side. And as a member of Lawyers Network for Foreigner, he has many non-Japanese clients. So, he is used to communicating in English about complicated legal matters.