In regards to the issue of 250 school counselors (SCs) working as non-regular public servants in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government being notified of their “employment termination” in January 2024, it has been learned from an interview with the legal team that 10 former and current SCs will file a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court on October 9th against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, seeking confirmation of their status, damages, etc., claiming that the refusal to renew their appointments is unfair. The issue of mass employment terminations has developed into a class action lawsuit. (Hatama Kaori) The issue of termination of employment of school counselors in Tokyo is a problem surrounding the new personnel system (fiscal year appointment system) for non-regular public servants working for local governments that was established by the national government in fiscal 2020. The term of office is one fiscal year, but it can be renewed based on work performance, etc. The number of times a license can be renewed without taking the public examination is decided by the local government. The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education has set the limit at four times, and Tokyo SCs who had been working before 2019 will now be required to pass a public recruitment exam to continue working in 2024. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education and other sources, 250 of the 1,096 people who took the public recruitment exam had their employment terminated. According to the complaint and other sources, the 10 people had their appointments renewed as Tokyo Metropolitan SCs for between 5 and 26 years. As the upper limit for renewal of appointments set by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education was reached in 2023, he took a public examination, but was found to have “failed” and been “appointed as a replacement,” equivalent to a substitute, and was notified that he would not be appointed from 2024 onwards. Nine of the plaintiffs were unsuccessful and one was appointed as a replacement. One of the replacements was hired and began work in April. Nine are seeking the salaries they should have received, while one of the replacements is seeking the salary for the school he was responsible for, which was reduced from three to one. ◆ “Refusal to renew lacks objectively reasonable grounds” The lawsuit claims that it is reasonable for the plaintiffs to expect their contract to be renewed in 2024, as the principal and others have asked them to continue. The refusal to renew is invalid, on the grounds that it lacks objectively reasonable grounds and is not considered appropriate in accordance with social standards. Attorney Naoto Sasayama, secretary-general of the legal team, said, “This is a job that requires experience and expertise, but the city government throws them away when it becomes inconvenient for them. “It will be a social indictment that calls into question the city’s education administration.” Regarding the selection process for the 2024 Tokyo Metropolitan SC, the Psychological Professions Union (Toshima Ward, Tokyo), a labor union made up of SCs and psychologists, has received numerous inquiries raising doubts about the selection process, such as “I was highly evaluated by the principal and answered questions smoothly in the interview, but I was still rejected.” The union had been in collective bargaining with the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, demanding disclosure of the exam criteria and an explanation of the selection process that only involved interviews without taking into account work history. Tadaharu Fukuda, chief supervisor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education’s Guidance and Planning Division, said in an interview, “At this point, no lawsuit has been filed, so there is no way to comment.” ◇ ◆ “Behind the SC there are children and parents who are in real trouble and need help” (omitted) ◆ “Failed” in the selection process… even though they had been working for many years (omitted) ◆ “Unstable employment” despite highly specialized work The Local Public Service Act states that the term of employment for fiscal year employees is “within the period from the date of employment to the last day of the fiscal year.” Under this system, local governments are employing childcare workers, women’s counselors, librarians and other workers in jobs that require qualifications, expertise and experience, in a process that leaves them with unstable employment. Even if terminating employment is not legally problematic, women feel that there is an ethical problem with hurting a worker’s self-esteem and taking away their livelihood. “It’s wrong to shift the issue to individual choice by saying, ’Because we accept this type of working style, we are in no position to complain even if we are laid off.’ “I would like to argue that this is a problem with the system design.” According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education and other sources, 1,096 people took the public exam to renew their contracts. Of the 783 new applicants, 441 were accepted, while 420 people renewed their licenses without going through the public recruitment process because they had not reached the limit on the number of renewals. Including the recruitment of substitutes, in fiscal 2012 a total of 1,756 Tokyo SCs will be deployed, including 1,736 to all 2,067 public elementary, junior high and high schools, and 20 to 20 Tokyo special needs schools. Tokyo Shimbun, September 24, 2024, 6:00am.
>>1 Did you agree to the contract from the beginning? That’s difficult. Even if you look at the contents, you can’t say that they go against public order, common sense, or morals. It’s a proper employment contract.
>>1 In the first place, you can’t get hired unless you’re a non-regular worker If you complain about something like this, you’ll never get hired again.
>>4 There are two types of non-regular workers: those who can do what anyone can do, like part-timers, and those who are used to temporarily fill in the gaps in labor, and those who are hired temporarily to fill in the gaps in labor. You’re right about the latter, but the former are cheap, right? If you want to be treated like a regular employee, you can become a regular employee, and if you want better treatment than that, you can become a specialized, hard-to-replace employee. If you can only do things that anyone can do and can only be a non-regular worker, it’s no use demanding full-fledged treatment…
When my section chief (34 years old) told a temp worker (47 years old, single, bald, from the bubble generation) “Hey, that temp worker, come over here and do this,” the man (47 years old, single, bald, from the bubble generation) suddenly grabbed the section chief and said “Why are you talking to me like that? Right?” The other employees tried to stop him, but the matter went up the ranks, and after hearing the details from both sides, the temp worker (47 years old, single, bald, from the bubble generation) was fired and the matter was resolved by giving a stern warning to the temp agency, but I never thought that a grown man would be so belligerent and abusive without even knowing his position. I was shocked that there are people who don’t even have common sense. It’s impossible to get a regular job for someone like this.
>>8 We also hired a temp worker in his 40s, but within a week of starting, he came to us for advice about being bullied by a senior full-time employee in his 30s, so we asked the temp agency sales representative to replace him with someone else because it seemed like a bit of a hassle.
Unless a law protecting non-regular employment is created, the current situation of non-regular employment will not change. Because the law and the environment are being abused at the national level.
There have also been comments that since school counselors in the city are well-treated and very popular, it is wrong to give preferential treatment simply to those with more experience. We need to open the door to talented people who want to do it.
Relax employment regulations, eliminate non-regular employees, make everyone full-time, and just cut people. If everyone is cut equally based on ability and demand, it makes sense.
That’s the system for fiscal year employees, so I guess they didn’t hear about it during the interview, so your employment won’t be terminated. The job posting at Hello Work says the maximum term is four years.
At the American company where I worked, the non-regular and part-time workers at the time were either made full-time employees or fired. The personnel adjustments were made in the form of restructuring, with entire departments being eliminated (of course, full-time employees were also fired). Companies also need measures to adjust their workforce, but at the same time, workers want full-time status. It’s like a compromise. However, even full-time employees are subject to restructuring, so it appears that everyone is non-regular. By the way, it is said that the average American changes jobs 4-5 times in their lifetime.
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