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	<title>The Japan Times &#187; Hifumi Okunuki</title>
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	<description>News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More</description>
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		<title>Teachers are workers, not martyrs: the severance scandal that isn&#8217;t</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/02/19/how-tos/teachers-are-workers-not-martyrs-the-severance-scandal-that-isnt/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=teachers-are-workers-not-martyrs-the-severance-scandal-that-isnt</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Employment compensation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human resource management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labour relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pension]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Severance package]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trade union]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA['Teachers quitting before graduation?!' the headlines screamed as we headed into the new year.]]></description>
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		<title>AKB48: Unionize and take back your lost love lives</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/01/22/how-tos/akb48-unionize-and-take-back-your-lost-love-lives/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=akb48-unionize-and-take-back-your-lost-love-lives</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/01/22/how-tos/akb48-unionize-and-take-back-your-lost-love-lives/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[AKB48]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labor standards law]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[They started performing on stages in Tokyo&#8217;s Akihabara electronics district, and today their ubiquity is unrivaled. The current flavors of the month pepper the TV schedules and covers of weekly magazines all year round. In Tokyo, you can&#8217;t swing a carrot without hitting a giant poster of one or a bunch of the all-grinning, all-dancing [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>When is an hour at work not a work hour?</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/12/18/issues/when-is-an-hour-at-work-not-a-work-hour/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=when-is-an-hour-at-work-not-a-work-hour</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/12/18/issues/when-is-an-hour-at-work-not-a-work-hour/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[It was 1988, in an ad for Regain energy drink. Actor Saburo Tokito, wearing a suit and carrying an attache case, asked a question that would go down in TV history: &#8220;Can I work 24 hours straight?&#8221; Japan was reveling in the go-go years of the bubble economy, its people sacrificing their health, families and [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Disciplinary measures must pass the &#8216;objective, rational&#8217; test</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/11/20/issues/disciplinary-measures-must-pass-the-objective-rational-test/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=disciplinary-measures-must-pass-the-objective-rational-test</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/11/20/issues/disciplinary-measures-must-pass-the-objective-rational-test/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Discipline&#8221; (ch&#333;kai) &#8212; a miserable word if there ever was one. Being scolded as a child is part of growing up, but for us adults, being disciplined can be a particularly humiliating experience. But how much more humiliated would we feel if the grounds for the discipline were arbitrary, unfair or out of proportion? Do [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Labor law protects expectant and new mothers &#8212; to a point</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/10/16/issues/labor-law-protects-expectant-and-new-mothers-to-a-point/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=labor-law-protects-expectant-and-new-mothers-to-a-point</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/10/16/issues/labor-law-protects-expectant-and-new-mothers-to-a-point/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[I had a labor consultation with a woman who said: &#8220;The other day I told my company I was pregnant. My boss asked me to quit because the firm can&#8217;t afford to give me time off. One of my coworkers once resigned before giving birth but I want to stay on. Do I have to [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Work-rules verdict jars with laws aimed at leveling playing field for employees</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/09/18/issues/work-rules-verdict-jars-with-laws-aimed-at-leveling-playing-field-for-employees/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=work-rules-verdict-jars-with-laws-aimed-at-leveling-playing-field-for-employees</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/09/18/issues/work-rules-verdict-jars-with-laws-aimed-at-leveling-playing-field-for-employees/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:01:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[We live our lives bound by rules. As a student, my teachers scolded me to comply with school regulations, which were Draconian by modern standards: &#8220;Skirt hems must reach down to within 5 cm above the knees,&#8221; &#8220;Boys must shave their heads&#8221; and other meaninglessly strict school regulations were the rule rather than the exception. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Tepco liable for contract workers&#8217; safety in Fukushima</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/08/21/issues/tepco-liable-for-contract-workers-safety-in-fukushima/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tepco-liable-for-contract-workers-safety-in-fukushima</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/08/21/issues/tepco-liable-for-contract-workers-safety-in-fukushima/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:01:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[&#8216;Usually I spend New Year&#8217;s Eve eating New Year&#8217;s soba and go with my whole family to listen to the watch-night bell. But this year, I will spend Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 working. I will see the first sunrise of the year looking out over the sea driving along the highway toward the Fukushima [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Courts back workers&#8217; rock-solid right to strike</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/07/17/issues/courts-back-workers-rock-solid-right-to-strike/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=courts-back-workers-rock-solid-right-to-strike</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/07/17/issues/courts-back-workers-rock-solid-right-to-strike/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:01:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Sensei, Japan is such a safe country because there are no strikes. Right?&#8221; A student at the university where I teach blindsided me with this remark the other day. The vast majority of Japanese under 30 have never even witnessed industrial action and imagine a strike as something equivalent to a riot. As a teacher [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>In &#8216;right-to-work&#8217; Japan, employees should also have the right to rest</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/06/19/issues/in-right-to-work-japan-employees-should-also-have-the-right-to-rest/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=in-right-to-work-japan-employees-should-also-have-the-right-to-rest</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/06/19/issues/in-right-to-work-japan-employees-should-also-have-the-right-to-rest/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:01:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[According to the tagline for the 1991 film &#8220;City Slickers,&#8221; &#8220;All you need in life is love, courage and paid holidays.&#8221; Indeed, some of us may find meaning to our lives through single-minded devotion to our jobs, but without leisure time our bodies and minds would inevitably putter out. Taken to extremes, we may even [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/06/19/issues/in-right-to-work-japan-employees-should-also-have-the-right-to-rest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Supreme Court knocks down discipline of mentally ill employee</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/05/15/issues/supreme-court-knocks-down-discipline-of-mentally-ill-employee/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=supreme-court-knocks-down-discipline-of-mentally-ill-employee</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/05/15/issues/supreme-court-knocks-down-discipline-of-mentally-ill-employee/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 00:01:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hifumi Okunuki</dc:creator>
		
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		<description><![CDATA[Can a company discipline an employee for taking absence without leave if that worker could be suffering from mental illness? Just a few weeks ago, on April 27, the Supreme Court ruled against Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. in a case that posed precisely this question. The verdict illustrates the courts&#8217; thinking on a very modern ill [...]]]></description>
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