No break for Goldman Sachs

LAYOFFS       UNION       DISMISSAL

Japan – It seems like investment firm Goldman Sachs can’t catch a break as another round of complaints from employees hit the public.

Following Greg Smith’s high profile exit from Goldman Sachs two weeks ago, another former employee has stepped up to shed light on the working conditions in Japan, and how he is now setting up a union so other dismissed staff can demand their jobs back.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, the employee, who wore a mask and used the pseudonym Adam Lee, said, “I would just like to be treated as human.”

Lee said Goldman Sachs hired him fresh out of college, but he was laid off in August. The New York Times reported Lee claimed Goldman Sachs representatives pressured him in “combative meetings” into taking a six-month severance package even though the sum was not enough.

But while some lawyers are calling Lee’s efforts a “rare instance of organised labour in finance’s highest echelons”, others are not as convinced.

“Personally, this labour union makes me laugh,” Kunsen Gen, a managing partner at the Minato International Group, a Tokyo-based legal practice which handles labour disputes, told NYT. “They should have known from the start that layoffs are a risk in the cutthroat world of finance.”

However, because Japan has one of the more protective labour laws in the world, there may be a sliver of hope for these disgruntled employees.

One Japanese law requires all employees – even underperforming ones – to be given sufficient time to improve and learn before the company can dismiss them. When it comes to layoffs, a company must prove it is on the verge of bankruptcy, and that cutbacks are necessary to stay afloat.

“It would be hard to argue that Goldman Sachs is in danger of going bust,” Gen said.

“We are currently in discussions with the National Union of General Workers over a termination dispute,” a Goldman Sachs spokesman said.

“We are negotiating in good faith.”
_______________________________________________________________________________

To subscribe to Human Resources' monthly print magazines and daily online newsletters, please go to http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/subscribe/

To get the latest HR news to your desktop or mobile, follow Human Resources on Twitter and Facebook

To view exclusive HRTV videos and commentary on HR issues, visit The Office Snitch

More quality Lighthouse titles

Get your marketing department up to speed with Asia's most read marketing site
marketing-interactive.com

Want to get on the right side of the procurement department?
Direct them to Procurement Asia