I entered a company two months ago as a 正社員. It’s a small vegetable factory and the sempai who’s in charge of training me has been with the company for more than three years. We came from the same country.
This person used ultra violent and dirty language every time she taught me things and whenever I made a mistake or asked her about even trivial things. She said all these things in our mother tongue so other staff couldn’t understand, but they did feel the tension because her tone was extra high and the cursing was lengthy. She also gave degrading comments about me on topics about my personal life.
I kept tolerated until yesterday when i stopped doing so and talked back to her instead. How I put it was pretty calm and (I thought) reasonable: all I asked was that person to stay more composed when “discussing a matter”. And that was when she became 100% crazy and started all the yelling and cursing. She also stopped telling me what to do, “fucking figure it out yourself”, she said. Other Japanese staff started avoiding talking to me after that as they seemed to be afraid of disappointing her.
I talked to our boss on the next day, the head of the factory. He told me that he would bring up the issue to the 本社 and they will discuss this matter together. I told him that I did not expect the situation to become any better, and all I want is to leave in peace. We both agree to summarize the problem as “精神的に無理” and not mention about the bully.
The thing is, the bully saw me asking the boss to talk in private and continued on making me suffer that day.
Now all I want is to leave as soon as possible. Another day feels like insufferable to me, and I just want to leave immediately. But I’m also afraid that the company will cause me trouble if I attempt to do so.
What should I do in this situation? Please give advice on this!
5 comments
Go ahead and quit, citing the reasons above. Abusive behaviour is a legitimate reason for quitting without notice.
If you want, you can also talk to a lawyer regarding a power harassment suit, because this is very much power harassment. The damages you would receive won’t be large – maybe 1-2 million yen less lawyer fees, but pretty much guaranteed your bully will get fired.
Call in sick and go to see a doctor tomorrow about the mental strain. Never go back. Also talk to the local labor agency. Then make your decision on quitting and agreeing terms to leave. I reiterate though – don’t go back to work. At “worst” you could be fired.
The company is probably rather scared that you quit because of the bullying and toxic environment．The reason they fed you 精神的に無理 is solely to protect themselves. To be perfectly honest, it makes it look like you are the problem not the company.
Good luck!
I would also secretly record some audio for evidence just in case.
First, I’m truly sorry that you are dealing with this. I think that it would be good to consult a lawyer as soon as possible.
OP, you can hire a lawyer that will only charge a fee if you win a settlement. No cash out of pocket if you don’t win anything.
That the boss maneuvered this to not mention the bullying suggests they’ve done this before. I would try to insist on the wording mentioning it.
Either way, you should remove yourself from a bad situation ASAP and get a lawyer pronto. The company is knowingly retaining an abusive employee because it’s easier to deal with same people like yourself.
Inform them in writing that you are resigning due to bullying and power harassment.