TEPCO wants money back from workers

January 4, 2014

TEPCO seeks refunds of evacuation payments from employees, rejects ADR settlement

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140104p2a00m0na005000c.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is seeking refunds of compensation payments made to employees who evacuated from their homes as a result of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster and has rejected a settlement proposed by a dispute resolution organization in one case, it has been learned from inside sources.

Over 100 million yen in refunds are being sought, and young employees in their 20s have been leaving the company because of TEPCO's efforts to get the refunds. Critics say the dispute could adversely affect work to repair the Fukushima plant.

The government's policy on TEPCO's compensation to evacuees is that the evacuees receive, among other payments, 100,000 yen a month in emotional damages, money to cover transportation and other costs associated with temporary visits to their evacuated homes, and money to cover the costs of household appliances they purchase for their new homes after evacuating.

However, one male TEPCO employee had his compensation payments cut in fall 2012. The reason TEPCO gave was that his move in summer 2011 to a rented residence in an area without restrictions on entering and leaving was considered the end of his time as an evacuee. Since he had lived in a rented residence before the disaster as well, TEPCO considered his moving to another rented residence as a non-evacuation move. Meanwhile, however, non-TEPCO employees who move away from their pre-disaster homes receive compensation.

What surprised the employee was a letter that arrived in spring last year from a TEPCO department handling compensation for the nuclear disaster. It read, "A discrepancy has been confirmed in the amount (of compensation) paid and the correct amount," and listed the difference at some millions of yen. The discrepancy was for the money the employee had received since moving in summer 2011, and the letter said TEPCO would "withhold" the money. The man called the department to ask about this, and was told the company would subtract the difference from his compensation payments. However, since he wasn't being paid that compensation anymore, this essentially meant he would have to pay a refund. The man pressed to clarify this point but was only told the manner of returning the money was not yet decided.

The man took the situation to an out-of-court alternative dispute resolution (ADR) entity, set up to handle disputes over compensation payments stemming from the Fukushima disaster. The organization rejected TEPCO's argument and said that the man was still in evacuation and had no duty to return the funds. It also proposed a settlement in which TEPCO would pay several millions of yen to the man, but TEPCO refused to follow the organization's non-binding proposal.

Based on multiple testimonies, there are at least 15 TEPCO employees who have been asked to return compensation payments, with the total amount exceeding 100 million yen. One employee said, "Around 100 employees have had their compensation payments stopped, and many of them have been asked to return money."

In October, TEPCO held a meeting in Fukushima Prefecture between company executives and employees. In an audio recording of the meeting obtained by the Mainichi Shimbun, an employee says, "Asking us to return the money sent to us has made everyone's anger breach the tipping point." An executive responded, "We will look closely into this matter," but the situation has since remained unchanged.

Professor Aya Yamada of Kyoto University, who is knowledgeable about ADR, said, "In order for victims of the nuclear disaster to trust and be comfortable using the ADR organization for disputes over nuclear compensation, TEPCO has to follow their promise (to respect the organization's proposals). A justified reason is needed to reject the proposals, but no justified reason exists in this case."

TEPCO worker frustrated over company's treatment of employees

拡大写真

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140104p2a00m0na008000c.html

An employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), who was asked by the utility to return evacuation compensation payments he received for the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster, lamented the company's frosty attitude toward workers like him who had devoted themselves to bringing the crippled plant under control.

The employee was among those who worked on the front lines immediately after the onset of the nuclear disaster in March 2011, under the leadership of then plant manager Masao Yoshida. Amid high levels of radiation, the employee and his colleagues trembled with fear as they worked to contain the unprecedented atomic disaster.

Faced with TEPCO's unsympathetic treatment of them, however, young employees are leaving the company in despair. Declining morale among workers is casting a shadow on ongoing efforts to decommission the plant's reactors.

Hailing from outside Fukushima, the employee has developed a fondness for Fukushima after working for many years at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear plants. "I feel as if this is my hometown," he says about Fukushima, where he is also involved in community activities.

"I can't stand any further contamination of my hometown," he thought in the wake of an explosion at the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on March 12, 2011. He and his colleagues approached the reactor building, trembling. When they returned to a quake-proof building about 300 meters away from the No. 1 reactor after work, Yoshida was yelling angrily in a teleconference with TEPCO's Tokyo headquarters. But he was tender to local staff, often telling them, "You guys are doing great work."

The employee continued to work under harsh conditions, but felt what he was doing was worth it. However, he received a letter from TEPCO last spring asking him to return part of the compensation he received from the utility, and to sign and send back a letter of consent.

"That can't be possible," he thought, and read the letter over and over again. But it was unmistakably an invoice addressed to him by his employer. He shed tears of frustration and suffered sleepless nights. His coworkers had also received similar documents. A gloomy, depressing atmosphere prevailed, significantly undermining workers' morale.

The salaries of TEPCO employees were slashed by 20 percent immediately after the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Such cutbacks have been followed by the suspension of compensation payouts to employees in 2012 and the demand to return compensation in spring 2013. These changes resulted in more than 10 employees -- mainly in their 20s -- leaving TEPCO. Among them were employees who worked together with the male employee to bring the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant under control.

"Everyone felt responsible that a nuclear plant that we'd been operating caused this crisis, and we all persevered in our work (following the disaster)," the employee said, adding that motivation among his colleagues waned because of their maltreatment by the utility. The employee says he couldn't tell an outgoing coworker, "Let's hang in there together."

The employee recalls Yoshida telling them, "You guys tried very hard amid high radiation doses. I will look after you properly."

"If he (Yoshida) was alive, things wouldn't have turned out like this," the employee sometimes thinks to himself.

While he feels helpless, he tells himself he's going to stick it out for the sake of his "hometown."