Alternative Dispute Resolution & compensation

 January 18, 2014

Lawyers probe TEPCO's snubbing of out-of-court settlement proposals

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140118p2a00m0na014000c.html 

The Fukushima Bar Association (FBA) has begun investigating Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s refusal to accept non-binding out-of-court settlement proposals to resolve monetary disputes with its employees.

The proposals are being offered by a governmental alternative dispute resolution (ADR) entity set up to handle disputes over compensation for the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster. For residents to get compensation from TEPCO, first they make a request to the power company, which calculates how much they can receive. Residents who find this amount unreasonable can take their cases to the ADR entity.

The ADR group is a sub-organization of a committee that decides on the national government's policy on nuclear disaster compensation. The group's lawyers hear the arguments of both sides in each dispute before proposing a settlement.

Though the entity's proposals for settlement disputes are not legally binding, TEPCO has said it will respect them -- one of the "three vows" it made concerning compensation under a plan released Jan. 15. However, despite this vow, its actions until now indicate it has taken quite the opposite stance.

On Jan. 4, the Mainichi Shimbun reported that TEPCO had rejected a ruling by the ADR entity over a dispute between the company and its employees regarding compensation payments for the nuclear disaster. TEPCO was in effect demanding the return of a portion of some employees' compensation payments, but the ADR entity rejected TEPCO's arguments and recommended a resolution in which the company would instead pay millions of yen more in compensation.

Following this news, the FBA decided to begin an investigation, but it is not the FBA's first such move. In September last year, the association released a statement in the name of its chairman demanding the government strongly urge TEPCO to follow the settlements proposed by the ADR entity.

On Jan. 15, the bar association sent documents to 177 members that read in part, "If the situation is as it has been reported, nothing has been done (by the government to urge TEPCO to follow the proposals)." The documents ask for any information regarding instances of TEPCO rejecting the ADR entity's proposals.

Meanwhile, the Mainichi Shimbun learned from a source about two more cases of TEPCO rejecting settlement proposals, both involving employees working at or near the nuclear plant. Their compensation payments have been cut even though their homes are in areas restricted due to radiation contamination, forcing them to continue living away from their homes.

TEPCO's refusals to follow the ADR entity's proposals have not been limited to disputes with its employees either, as one case involves a non-employee in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.

"When TEPCO refuses a settlement proposal, the disaster victims have the large burden of filing suits forced upon them," said Yuji Wakasugi, vice chairman of the FBA. "We will look at the results of our investigation and consider whether we need to act further on this issue."

The Mainichi Shimbun asked TEPCO for the number of ADR entity proposals it has rejected, but a representative of the company's public relations department would only say there were "multiple" cases.

January 18, 2014(Mainichi Japan)