Court sides with Myanmar woman over illegal wage deduction | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

A court in Japan has ordered the operator of a Tokyo noodle shop to pay about 1 million yen, or around 6,500 dollars, to a woman from Myanmar who claimed that the company had illegally deducted money from her wages.

The Tokyo District Court issued the ruling on Friday.

The complaint and other materials say the 30-year-old Myanmar national came to Japan in January last year under the Specified Skilled Worker System, which accepts foreign nationals who are recognized as having certified skills. She started working at a Mitsuyado Seimen shop.

She worked for more than 150 hours for the month of February last year. She claimed that the operator deducted money from her wages for expenses, including a company housing fee, even though she had not agreed to pay in advance. As a result, her first paycheck was reduced to zero yen. She took the case to the court, seeking unpaid wages and compensation for emotional distress.

In Friday's ruling, Judge Hosokawa Hidehito said she received less than 40,000 yen, or around 260 dollars, as wages in the initial three months, and more than 70 percent of her wages had been deducted over the course of her employment.

He also said it is clear that she was placed in an extreme situation in which she could not afford even basic necessities, such as food and public utility bills, and that the deductions were illegal.

The judge added that an employee of the operator committed an illegal act by sending the woman a message telling her to immediately move out of the company housing if she did not agree to pay various expenses.