Filming Nudity and Lifting the Voice to an Underperforming Employee...Criminal resentment, not workplace bullying
Jul 03, 2025
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The affected employees are filing a class action suit.
According to Hong Kong media South China Morning Post, Company A, an energy facility company based in Osaka, Japan, was found to have forced employees with low sales to take nudity shots and committed sexual and physical abuse.
This became known to the world in March when five employees who left the company filed a 19 million yen (about 180 million won) compensation suit against the company for abuse and unfair wage deductions.
One of the employees who filed the lawsuit said "If the day's sales performance was low, the boss would take a nude photo and share it with another employee." he revealed. Afterwards, the boss reportedly mocked the victim by capturing a screen in which the photo was shared.
He also claimed that sexual violence was also routinely committed, saying "My boss grabbed my testicles to punish me, and I was ashamed and in pain beyond words." He added that he complained to the branch manager about this, but laughed it off, saying "What everyone goes through."
He was eventually diagnosed with adaptation disorders and depression and left the company.
In addition, the company is also known to have committed serious wage exploitation, such as unilaterally reducing employees' performance allowances or asking the company to transfer money on payday.
In addition, a fine of up to 6 million yen (about 57 million won) was imposed for traffic violations, and a company executive directly assaulted a branch manager who did not attend a dinner.
Founded in 1999, the company sells and installs electricity and power-saving facilities with nine locations across Japan.
The company once drew attention with a recruitment advertisement saying that the average annual salary of sales employees in 2024 is 14.27 million yen (about 135 million won).
However, in reality, pressure on performance, harsh corporal punishment, and habitual human rights violations have been repeated.
The company denied all charges in response to the lawsuit, saying it is "not related to the culture in the company and distorts facts based on unilateral claims."
However, given that there is no clear criminal punishment regulation for workplace harassment in Japan and the lack of legal basis for victims to claim damages, the South China Morning Post pointed out that the case also leads to calls for improvement in the system.
The incident shocked Japanese society and sparked criticism online.
Netizens are posting critical comments such as "'This is not a level of bullying in the workplace, but a crime'", 'Significant criminal act', "I thought the TV drama was exaggerated, but the reality is more terrible.'
The lawsuit is currently underway, and attention is being paid to whether it will lead to discussions on improving the workplace culture and legal system in Japanese society in the future.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
