Trial Overview
Embedded Files
Improving the company through litigation
Improving the company through litigation
Beyond Borders: Google's US-Centric Approach Clashes with Japanese Labor Rights
Beyond Borders: Google's US-Centric Approach Clashes with Japanese Labor Rights
The ongoing labor dispute at Google's Japan office stems from several interconnected issues, primarily a disregard for Japanese labor laws and a lack of clear accountability. The core problem lies in the implementation of decisions made by Google's U.S.-centric headquarters without sufficient challenge from the Japanese HR department. This has led to the dismissal and early retirement recommendations being carried out in an American style, effectively sidelining the precedents and practices that Japanese labor unions and the judiciary have established over many years.
Laws are not merely rules; they are a crystallization of a nation's history, culture, and social norms. While cultural imperialism has become a global concern in recent years, a similar perspective is needed when it comes to labor law. Google should show greater respect for the labor laws, precedents, and the underlying history and culture that workers in Japan have built through years of effort.
Google should grant its local offices, including Google Japan, greater autonomy and establish robust back-office systems tailored to local conditions. It is imperative that Google actively engages in dialogue with employees in each country to foster a workplace environment that aligns with their respective cultures and legal frameworks.
Retaliation by Bonus Reduction
[In Progress]Retaliation by Bonus Reduction
As part of the Alphabet global layoffs which occurred on January 2023, approximately 6% of the workforce was also targeted for reductions in Japan in March 2023 (Google Japan and Google Cloud Japan combined). Within those who were impacted, six employees (now JAU members) were moved to an isolated team and made by the company to do work with little to no contribution to Google's business. In addition, during the bonus and equity refresh period in March 2024, these members received little bonus amounts and zero'd restricted stock units (RSU) equity refresh.This action from the company was clearly aimed at forcing these employees to resign from Google from refusing the mutual separation agreement from March 2023. Reducing their total compensation because of their "impacted" status demonstrates Google Japan's lack of accountability in placing these individuals into suitable official roles, and engaging in this unfair treatment of employees is an illegal act. These six individuals consulted with JAU lawyer panel and ultimately decided to file a lawsuit to the Tokyo District Court on January 31, 2025.
Unfair PIP and Dismissal
[In Progress]Unfair PIP and Dismissal
PIP (Performance Improvement Plan/Program) is a method sometimes abused in the U.S. to dismiss employees, and is currently promoted by the Japanese government as part of a job-based employment system. The method is to assign tasks to an employee and use them as evidence that “opportunities for improvement have been given” and use failure to meet targets as grounds for dismissal, and unreasonable tasks and arbitrary operations have become problems. An employee who were subjected to the very typical unreasonable PIP at Google Japan joined JAU and raised his voice.The dismissal was based on the abstract and arbitrary criteria of "lack of thought leadership, and even though there were some suspicions on the process, the dismissal was enforced in December 2024. The union member filed a provisional injunction to Tokyo District Court in February 2025.
Collective Bargaining Refusal
[In Progress]Collective Bargaining Refusal
Regarding the layoffs in March 2023 that included employees on parental or maternity leave, the union immediately demanded an explanation from the company through collective bargaining. The union's three demands were as follows: an explanation of the necessity for the layoffs, including business performance figures and layoff targets; a request that employees on parental or maternity leave be allowed to remain employed until the end of their leave; and an opportunity for employees who signed a resignation agreement under a misunderstanding due to insufficient explanation to be re-briefed and to choose whether or not to resign.The company held two perfunctory collective bargaining sessions but provided almost no substantive information that could lead to genuine discussion. The company then rejected all of the union's demands, stating that there was no need to comply with them.In November 2023, the union filed a request for a remedy with the labor committee, arguing that this constituted illegal bad-faith collective bargaining. The labor relations commission agreed that this case represents bad-faith collective bargaining and is expected to issue an order soon.
Layoffs Targeting Parental Leave
[Closed] Layoffs Targeting Parental Leave
JAU was formed in February 2023 in response to the widespread layoffs across GAFAM companies. A major challenge for JAU at the time was the targeting of at least six employees on parental leave during the voluntary redundancy program in Japan in March 2023, as far as the union could ascertain. Naturally, none of these individuals wished to leave their jobs at that moment. However, fear of dismissal if they refused the redundancy offer led five of the six to sign the agreements.One of these five, a union member, bravely stepped forward and filed a request for administrative guidance with the Employment Environment and Equal Employment Department of the Tokyo Labor Bureau. JAU launched a signature campaign to support her, and on June 23, 2023, we submitted 14,917 signatures. This public support was instrumental. On November 14, 2023, we received notification that the Labor Bureau had decided to issue administrative guidance against the company. Since then, the union has not received any further reports of employees on parental leave being targeted for redundancy.
Page updated
Report abuse