Hello,
I posted my story once here but decided to post it again with some update.
I have been skimming through this reddit but I need some advice and feedback on my current situation.
I have been working in a Japanese company for almost 2 years (with pretty much all foreigners there). I’m seishain after passing the probation period with flying colors.
Things were going fairly well until I got severely burnt out at work a month ago.
I had a chat with the HR there which basically left me with two choices:
\- either I continue to work in the company
\- or I quit the company with a month of garden leave
I said that I wanted to keep working and hopefully get better.
I actually got better, until they ask for another meeting out of the blue;
They told me that my job got ‘eliminated’ therefore they want me to leave. While they are still hiring new people, including people in my job category. The company seems to be in a fairly good spot.
They handed me a letter, stipulating that I would get 2 months of garden leave.
My last day would have been in less than 2 weeks. They announced this on Friday before GW and set a deadline for signing the letter on Monday otherwise the letter will become null. This timeframe wouldn’t leave me no time to have a legal consultation. I refused to sign on Monday and they told me that we could set the deadline on Tuesday. I also declined this, saying that I first need to know my rights before signing anything.
Also, I’m currently waiting for my PR application process. I have been in Japan for over 10 years and married to a Japanese national for almost 3 years. I’m afraid to lose this as I really want my PR to come through.
Before the GW, they decided to cut all my access (mails etc.) with less than 1 hour notice.
I will have a meeting with them but unsure of what will happen. I will see a lawyer to see what would be the next steps but I hope we will find a peaceful resolution.
I’d be happy to hear any advice on my situation or what I can hope from this.
11 comments
One thing is to keep the record of all digital and physical copies of any conversation, chats, emails between you and your employer regarding asking to leave the company. It will make the process easier when you see a lawyer.
Without knowing the details, most of the time it’s more productive to negotiate as many months of severance rather than fight them tooth and nail. It clear company wants to move on from your role/team and they are willing to pay to make it go quickly. Most foreign companies will pay 3-6 months for you to voluntarily resign and go away. Google just paid their people 12+ months for this.
Don’t threaten with lawsuits or whatever, the reality most Americans in this sub don’t know is the Japanese court system is slow. You could sue them today for being fired and it could be 2-3 years before you see any of that money. And just because you go to court doesn’t mean your going to get your job back or millions of dollars. Most of the time the court will provide a few months of severance as fair value and all your left if legal fees and having to explain to your next employer why you sued your previous company. Better to say I am willing to sign quick but get the money you need to do a property transition out of your current role.
If your position is removed, a company has the obligation to find a new position for you.
Especially as a seishain. If you like the company, I wouldn’t sign anything and let them ride out the long drawn process of trying to fire you.
If you’d like to move companies anyway, I would negotiate up 4〜6 months worth of pay.
They’ll have a really hard time firing you if you’ve been turning up to work, communicating and actually doing your job. If they’ve cut all access, send an email to HR saying that you have lost access and aren’t sure why as you are still working there and haven’t resigned.
If you have married with a Japanese whether or not you can be granted by PR card
and I guess the best way is negotiating with HR for more compensation, then find next
job as quickly as possible
They cannot fire you without 30 days notice. Additionally, they cannot fire someone without first making an effort to move them around in the company. The fact that they’re posting job openings is proof they did not do this. They’re doing illegal shit.
Based on what you’ve said, the dismissal is very likely unlawful. They gave some evidence that you were underperforming, but they probably haven’t met the bar for proving enough incompetence to justify firing you.
There is no peaceful resolution to be had. Your company has declared war on you. Lawyer up and use the lawyer to negotiate a better severance.
The job is over; you’ll never work there again. But your legal claim will be that the dismissal is unlawful, and therefore you’re still an employee until you agree to some dismissal terms. You should talk to your lawyer about how that affects what you tell the immigration agency.
So – you’ve been at this job less than two years.
You got ‘burnt out’ a month ago, went to HR who basically said “either keep working or resign”, at which point you suddently got better again?
Something doesn’t really seem to add up.
Why would the HR meeting be ‘out of the blue’ – you went to them initially, no? Sounds like a continuation of the discussion you have been having with them over the past month.
In this situation it’s a year minimum of severance
Mental health is not something that historically in Japan has been treated. So unfortunately by stating that you were burnt out they saw that as a sign of weakness.
Your initial story is different than the one above. You mentioned that you suffered a second bout of burnout if I recall correctly.
From my side I would push for 2-3 months salary and be happy. Also if you are on garden leave you are still technically employed so I don’t think it would effect your PR application, although the PR needs to come within those 2 months. (I believe…could be wrong)
You were at the company for less than 2 years, and unfortunately did not meet expectations for the last month or possibly more.
Hopefully your future job is a better match and you don’t get burnout.
FYI cutting your access to email in such short notice is completely normal for many companies. An employee being asked to leave is essentially a security risk when they have email/system access.
I thought in Japan you couldn’t be fired. So is it legal?