Advice About What I Should Do Regarding My Previous Employer (Open to Everyone)
Hi everyone,
To make a long story short, I worked at a small company in Japan for a little over a year. It was a Japanese K.K. run by foreigners, and there were problems from the beginning. When I joined there were only 4 employees, we eventually grew to 9, and after I left it dropped back down to 6.
Me and four other new joiners were not enrolled in pension/social insurance for months after joining. We started working in February, March, and April, but the company only filed the paperwork in July. For months one of the managers kept telling us things like, “Yeah, I already filed it” or “it’s being processed.” Then the pension office started sending us letters saying we were technically unemployed and owed pension payments ourselves — in some cases up to ¥60,000. Later the same manager denied ever saying those things, and the excuse became, “We’re a small company, don’t expect too much from us.”
The salary situation was also messy. Our contracts said payday was the 25th, but when we weren’t paid on time management suddenly told us, “Oops, the system changed, now payday is the 30th.”
There were also, many other issues, toxic behaviour, threats, lies, pressure tactics, and constant dishonesty. Officially work hours were 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM with “no overtime,” but people were pressured not to leave before 7:00 PM. There was also no HR department from the beginning.
Another issue was PTO. I used my first 10 PTO days within my first 8 months. Then the new year started, and I thought my PTO reset and I had received another 11 days, so I used 6 more. Later they suddenly told me I owed the company around ¥90,000 because apparently the next set of PTO days only kicks in one year after probation ends. Instead of explaining it clearly beforehand, they just told me to “go check Japanese law online.” (They took the money from my salary)
At the end, the company owed me around ¥500,000 in commissions. The word “commission” was clearly written in my contract and internal documents signed by the company president. Later they tried to say it was actually a “discretionary bonus,” even though it was paid biannually using the same structure as the other managers.
I resigned, gave proper two weeks’ notice, and left the company. However, they still refuse to pay my commissions even though the work had already been completed. I saved all the documents, deal information, and proof of my work.
I later spoke with former employees and found out this apparently happened many times before. People left while being owed anywhere from ¥100,000 to over ¥1,000,000, and nobody ever received the money. (Nobody every sued or filed a complaint thought it wasent worth it)
Do you think it’s worth speaking to the labour bureau or seeking legal/labour advice? I’m also a foreigner living in Tokyo.
I worked really hard for that money, and honestly, it sucks knowing they kept it after all the effort I put in.