Local govts withhold OT pay / Unable to handle massive bills for overtime in wake of March 11

Yosuke Miyashita, Takeo Maeda and Hiroki Ikeda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Local governments in many areas hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake have told employees they will not receive full payment for overtime work performed in the immediate wake of the disaster.

Some of the local governments have decided to pay only part of the overtime allowances due, or let employees take days off in lieu of money.

Such decisions are based on the financial constraints caused to local governments by the disaster, but labor unions representing the employees are strongly opposed.

An official of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said, "Even disaster-hit local governments need to pay people according to the actual work done."

A labor affairs expert empathized with the governments' position, saying, "It's necessary to reconsider the overtime pay system because the disaster was unprecedented."

In Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, the total amount due to 340 city government employees for overtime work done in March reached 140 million yen. That amount is 25 times the overtime paid in the same month last year.

The city government has proposed paying the employees night-duty allowances of up to 4,200 yen per day instead of the overtime allowance, but the total amount is only about 10 percent of the overtime due.

A labor union of the city government workers protested: "Some employees went to work instead of searching for their own family members. The decision is irrational and one-sided."

Kamaishi Mayor Takenori Noda said, "Considering the hardship being faced by disaster victims, it'd be difficult to pay the full amount."

The city government and the labor union are continuing to negotiate over the issue.

In Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, city government employees did overtime work worth more than 100 million yen in total. After consulting the employees' labor union, the government decided to give the employees days off in place of the overtime allowances they would have usually received.

The employees accepted the proposal, saying they needed vacation time after working extremely hard after the disaster. One employee said, "I know there are some legal problems with it, but we just can't expect to get the full amount of overtime pay."

In Onagawacho, Miyagi Prefecture, the local government did not pay 147 rank-and-file employees for overtime work done in March.

The government's general affairs section said it would have been impossible to calculate the overtime work done. An official of the section said, "We can't pay large amounts for overtime when all residents of the town are suffering."

In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, the city government paid 1,349 employees ranked assistant section chief or lower the reduced rate of 1,900 yen per hour for a total of 162,667 hours of overtime work done from March 11 to March 31.

The city government's personnel affairs section said the rate was less than half the usual rate.

In Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture, the town government has delayed overtime payments because it has been unable to calculate the amount of overtime work performed.

Toshikazu Suto, assistant chief of the town government's general affairs section, said, "We want to pay in full, but we have to do so within the limits of our budget.

"Our employees haven't done the overtime work for the money, but because of their sense of duty. We want to pay them as much as possible, while also having the approval of local residents," he said.

In Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, city government employees have not been paid for overtime work done to help deal with the accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

"Concerning [payment for] work by our employees in response to the nuclear accidents, we're considering whether we'll demand money from Tokyo Electric Power Co. or the central government," a city government official said.

In Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, the city government initially paid only half of the total 160 million yen due to employees for overtime work in March. But after the prefectural government pointed out that the city government was in violation of the Labor Standards Law, the city government paid all the overtime due.

However, some locals criticized the decision, asking why public servants should get extra money for helping in the wake of the disaster while others got nothing.

Fujio Hamada, professor emeritus of Kobe University and an expert on labor affairs said, "Legally, of course the overtime allowances should be paid.

"But under the special circumstances in the wake of the disaster, there is a question as to whether the payments were considered when employees were told to do overtime work. There's also the question of how the public servants feel about seeing disaster victims suffering. These points should be examined," he said.

The law stipulates that prefectural and municipal governments should pay employees overtime allowances if they work in excess of eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. Work done in the event of a disaster and during an election period is included. The hourly rate for overtime work is usually at least 25 percent higher than government employees' normal rate.