A radio news anchor oversleeps a live broadcast twice, forcing the radio station to cancel the broadcast. Should he be fired?
In the late 1970s, Japan's Supreme Court weighed in. Case law on the legal principle of "abuse of the right to dismiss" (kaikoken ranyō hōri) was established by the famous Jan. 31, 1977 Supreme Court verdict in the Kochi Broadcasting case.
Mr. X worked as a radio announcer at Kochi Broadcasting's news department. He overslept his 10-minute radio news spot starting at 6 a.m. twice in two weeks. The first time it happened, the news broadcast had to be cancelled, while the second incident delayed the start of the program by five minutes. Mr. X failed even to report the second incident to his superiors and then lied on the report that he was eventually compelled to submit.