I’d never defend stealing on the job, but losing your retirement over the monetary equivalent of a stapler is a ridiculously disproportionate response from any employer. The Supreme Court of Japan decided on Thursday that a Japanese bus driver with 29 years of service rightfully lost his $84,000 pension after he was caught stealing $7 from the fare box. The 2022 incident was caught on dashcam, but the driver sued the city over the punishment’s heavy-handedness.
The Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau discovered the theft while reviewing bus dashcam footage, according to CBS News. A group of five people entered the bus and paid a 1,150-yen ($8) fare. The driver pocketed the 1,000-yen bill handed over by a passenger. When questioned by a superior, the 58-year-old denied that he stole money despite the irrefutable evidence to the contrary. The driver was fired and filed a lawsuit after realizing he also lost his retirement package.
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Being A Problem Employee Shouldn’t Negate 29 Years Of Service
The Supreme Court of Japan – slyellow/Shutterstock
The case ended up in Japan’s highest court after the driver lost the original ruling but successfully appealed the decision. The Supreme Court’s ruling against the 58-year-old attempts to paint him as a problem employee by stating that he was reprimanded for multiple incidents during his career, including smoking an e-cigarette in an empty bus while on duty. Shinichi Hirai, a Kyoto public transit official, told the Japan Times:
“Each one of the bus drivers works alone and handles public money. We took it very seriously that embezzlement related to this area of our work took place. If our strict measures were not accepted, then our organization could become careless and it could result in eroding the public’s trust.”
The reprimands don’t negate that he gave 29 years of his life to Kyoto driving cars. He earned his pension, and to take it all away over a single case of petty theft is biblically harsh. The decision just illustrates how merciless Japan’s justice system is. If I ran a major Japanese automaker and were accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars, I’d totally pull a Carlos Ghosn and hire mercenaries to smuggle myself out of the country in a Yamaha music case.
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