Hello Reddit, New user here, I’m going through a messy forced resignation and my friend recommended I ask here for advice. I’ll try to leave some parts a bit vague to stay anonymous.
I work at the Japanese branch of an American company employing around 8000 people. This American company is in turn part of a huge Japanese holdings company. Since the American company was in the red last year, the CEO of the American company has decided to “right-size” multiple parts of the organization.
As a result, a huge part of the department I work at is being cut, including me. While the group was in the red last year, I’m most certain it’s not dire enough to warrant a “restructuring” by Japanese standards. All other people laid off have accepted their resignation.
I’m a Seishain, I’ve been working at this company for 6 years. I know Japanese labor law and when I was told I was fired, I refused. Not only would the meager severance offered not support me for long, but the most pressing matter is the fact that my VISA is expiring in early April and I need them to renew it before I can consider leaving the company. My VISA is a standard engineering, humanities, and international relations. (5 years)
They are in turn refusing to renew my visa, stating that they’ll only renew it if I sign my resignation papers. I’m hesitant to do this, not only is this very unethical, but I don’t know how immigration would feel about this, not to mention if I leave the company during my visa renewal and it’s declined for whatever reason, I would be in big trouble.
They have dragged me into multiple meetings to attempt me to sign the resignation papers, in one of the meetings, I recorded the whole thing and made sure to steer the conversation in a way that made them admit the following:
1. That my performance is adequate (we went through my KPI sheet confirming I hit all my targets)
2. That there has been no training or PIPs to correct bad performance.
3. Their refusal to renew my visa until I signed the resignation papers.
4. Them claiming they can change my contract from Seishain to Keiyakushain.
Once we had gone over my KPI however, both HR and the second in command of Japanese operations started counting up past mistakes and firmly stated that my performance was bad and that they do not want me to work at this company because of it. The meeting ended with them saying If I don’t sign they’ll fire me.
We have not talked since then, other than a quick conversation with HR where she kept reiterating that my performance is bad and that I’ll be fired, but she also said that they were speaking with the head office to find a positive solution for me… (I’m not too hopeful, however…) They are supposed to get back to me this week. (so before the 16th)
I’ve done the following.
I’ve gone to the labor standards office, and they directed me to FRESC. I went to FRESC and talked with immigration and a lawyer from Houterasu. Immigration recommended I find a new job ASAP.
Houterasu listened to me and wrote a note stating all the laws my company is “most likely” breaking, I’ve handed this over to HR. However, I was also told by Houterasu that a company is allowed to deny a Seishain a visa renewal request if they intend to fire them.
I contacted a major union for a consultation about two weeks ago but have not received a response yet. I admit I was in a state of panic when I reached out, so I might have given off a bad impression which makes me think they chose not to respond to me. A few days later I also applied for a membership at the union to try and speed up getting help from them, which is apparently something one should not do. This has left me a bit demoralized and I have not attempted to contact any other union. I find the whole joining a union thing to be a bit confusing, any clarification regarding this would be greatly appreciated. Apparently, you need 3 people to form a branch before you can join or am I mistaken? While a lot of my colleagues are silently supporting me, I doubt they’ll help me form a union at my current company.
Lastly, a major Japanese law firm is offering to take up my case, however, I’m hesitant due to all the fees, I know there is the potential to negotiate a higher severance through a lawyer but it would be devastating if I had to spend 300.000 to 600.000 yen just to get my visa renewal papers from my company. The lawyer in question is an English speaker, I would rate his abilities quite good but far from perfect, I can see communication errors occurring, although the paralegal person on the case is a native speaker.
I’m a bit at a loss here and not quite sure how I should proceed. It’s extremely anxiety-inducing to play chicken race with the life I’ve built here for 9.5 years. I worry that they’ll drag this out until my VISA is just about to expire, and then kick me out of the company, not allowing me any time to fight.
Is there any way that would allow me to stay in Japan and keep fighting should my VISA not be renewed by the company? If I have an open case with a lawyer could I receive a special extension? Or is there any other way? Should I even be worried about their threats to fire me to begin with? Or maybe signing my resignation to get them to renew my visa is not as risky as I think it is?
I’m of course speaking to recruiters and whatnot but finding a new job in such little time seems difficult unless I want to ruin my career. I’m extremely introverted (to the point writing an anonymous post on Reddit is scary) so English teaching would not be a good fit. Although a friend is currently talking with his company to see if they can recruit me, but that chance seems slim.
Maybe I should just go with the lawyer? but since I have crystal clear proof that my performance is not bad, is there any way I can prove this to the relevant authorities without having to pay all these fees?
Thank you very much, I appreciate any advice I can get.
EDIT:
Thank you very much for your kind comments and support! They have been very insightful.
I’m relieved to say that this morning I was accepted into the Union I applied to earlier. I’m hopeful they will be able to assist me in navigating all of this.
​
by Additional_Kaz