The Supreme Court is seen in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. (Mainichi/Kazuo Motohashi)
TOKYO — Following a Supreme Court ruling, a former Kyoto City Bus driver has lost retirement pay of some 12 million yen (about $84,000) for pocketing 1,000 yen ($7) from a passenger fare.
The driver, 58, had filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the city’s decision to withhold the retirement benefits.
According to the first and second court rulings, the man had been working as a driver since 1993. In February 2022, he pocketed a 1,000-yen bill received from a passenger instead of depositing it into the fare processing machine. The theft was discovered when the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau inspected the bus’s dashcam footage. In March 2022, the bureau terminated the man’s employment and decided to withhold his entire retirement pay.
The initial ruling by the Kyoto District Court in July 2023 determined that the man’s action constituted “embezzlement” as defined by the Penal Code, thereby justifying the withholding of retirement benefits, dismissing the plaintiff’s claim. On appeal, however, the Osaka High Court in February 2024 found the penalty to be excessive, given that the embezzled amount was only 1,000 yen and had been repaid, and overturned the city’s decision.
The Supreme Court’s First Petty Bench on April 17 overturned the appeal verdict, which deemed the penalty too severe, and ruled that the withholding of retirement money was lawful, finalizing the case.
(Japanese original by Kenji Tatsumi, Tokyo City News Department)
AloJapan.com