OSAKA (TR) – The government of Suita City has slapped a 47-year-old municipal worker with a pay cut after he subjected his own boss to power harassment, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Apr. 22).
On Monday, the city announced that the employee, a chief clerk in the General and Civic Affairs Bureau, was handed a 10 percent pay reduction for three months as a disciplinary measure.
According to the city, the 47-year-old repeatedly yelled at his supervisor and aggressively pounded on his desk to intimidate him during disputes over work procedures starting around September 2024.
The victimized boss had transferred to the department about six months prior, whereas the abusive clerk had been stationed in the office since November 2020.
The unusual role-reversal abuse was brought to light the following month through an internal whistleblower report.
While power harassment typically involves a superior exploiting their rank to abuse a subordinate, the city determined that the clerk’s hostile actions still fit the legal definition. Officials concluded that because the 47-year-old possessed “superior knowledge and experience” regarding the department’s day-to-day operations compared to his newly transferred boss, he held a distinct advantage that he deliberately used to inflict distress.
Two other management-level officials overseeing the department at the time were also handed pay cuts and reprimands for failing to properly intervene and halt the harassment.
