TEPCO is investigated over refusal to accept non-biding out-of-court settlement proposals

» TEPCO is investigated over refusal to accept non-biding out-of-court settlement proposals

2014/01/18

The Fukushima Bar Association (FBA) has begun investigating 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 disaster. For residents to get compensation from TEPCO, first they make a request to the utility, 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.

According to Mainichi newspaper, 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 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.
<Media Report>
Lawyers probe TEPCO’s snubbing of out-of-court settlement proposals (Mainichi Newspaper)

Tags:compensation, litigation, news, TEPCO