On March 8, 2023, the appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed without merit, and the trial came to an end.

More than a year has passed since then, but none of the members of this project, including plaintiff Masao Tanaka, have given up yet.

With the hope of "providing a humane way of working for teachers who develop human beings," we are currently holding strategy meetings in preparation for our next project.

However, there are some significant hurdles to overcome in preparing for the next project, and it will likely take some time before we can restart, so this will be the final progress post, marking the milestone of when this CALL4 case page will be archived.

Thank you very much for your support.

Masao Tanaka Support Office

[Comments from members]

"Plaintiff: Mr. Masao Tanaka"

Teachers' overtime work is their job and their labor. It cannot be dismissed as voluntary.

I would like to file a lawsuit to have teachers' overtime work recognized as labor.

"Plaintiff's attorney: Dr. Naoki Wakao"

When the Saitama District Court handed down its first ruling in this lawsuit, the conclusion was "dismissal of the claim," but we dared to raise the flag of "groundbreaking judgment."

The great significance of this ruling is that it directly recognized that the plaintiffs were engaged in overtime work as defined by the Labor Standards Act, and further indicated that if such overtime work is left unchecked, it may be subject to state compensation.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and other sources have argued that public school teachers, to whom the Special Salary Law applies, do not have overtime work, and that all of their activities are "voluntary activities." The Saitama District Court ruling clearly shows that such an interpretation is not legally valid.

On the other hand, as a lawyer, I was by no means convinced by the content of the ruling. The ruling had many problems, such as not recognizing the principal's strict obligation to manage working hours and the scope of what was recognized as working hours being too narrow. Therefore, in the appeal hearing at the Tokyo High Court and the appeal hearing at the Supreme Court, I strongly criticized and argued against the Saitama District Court ruling and the Tokyo High Court ruling which followed that judgment.

We also received cooperation from academics, and submitted an opinion by education law scholar Professor Tetsu Takahashi in the first instance, an opinion by labor law scholar Professor Katsutoshi Kezuka in the appeal instance, and an opinion by constitutional law scholar Professor Goro Horiguchi in the Supreme Court. We believe that we were able to present sufficient arguments and evidence to the extent that it would be unthinkable not to acknowledge the illegality of the defendant (Saitama Prefecture), who has forced teachers to work a lot of overtime, both in theory and in practice.

Despite this, both the Tokyo High Court and the Supreme Court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments and dismissed the claims. As a result, it is extremely unfortunate that the issues raised by the Saitama District Court ruling could not be overcome.

However, I believe that this lawsuit has made it clearer that we cannot allow this contradictory situation to continue as it is, where overtime work is not supposed to exist under the Special Salary System, but does in fact exist, and no one is held responsible for it. In the Saitama District Court ruling, the court added that "the Special Salary System no longer fits the actual situation in the educational field," but I am convinced that in order to improve teachers' working and educational environments, we absolutely must change the current system and operation that does not recognize teachers' overtime work as "labor."

We have received a great deal of support from everyone in this lawsuit, and thanks to you we have been able to carry out a successful legal campaign. As this lawsuit has been taken up in various settings, I believe we have been able to raise important issues about the working conditions of teachers. Finally, we would like to once again express our deepest gratitude for your support. Thank you very much.

"Support Office: Ryosuke Sano"

As a student, I learned hope through this trial, that "trials can be powerful" and "society can change." There is hope in this trial.

Originally, Tanaka started the lawsuit because he wanted to reduce the long working hours of his friends and teachers at his respected school, even if only a little. However, he couldn't wait for the government's decision. He was fed up with the country's work style reforms. Even in such a hopeless situation, Tanaka continued to fight through the "lawsuit." The district court's ruling included an unusual "remark" at the end of the ruling. While judgments need to be evaluated carefully, when I heard the "remark," I remember feeling relieved when the presiding judge said, "It was obvious to everyone that the situation was strange." Perhaps that is how numb I had become to the unchanging system.

This trial and recent news have made the "strange thing" known to the public. Even as I write these words, I hear the news of a new teacher's suicide. I am truly heartbroken. The only option left is to "change."

The Masao Tanaka lawsuit will now move on to the second lawsuit. We appreciate your continued support.

On August 25, 2022, Dr. Masao Tanaka (plaintiff) decided to appeal to the Supreme Court in response to the appeal decision of the Tokyo High Court.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to the appeals court with donations, comments, signatures, etc.

Thanks to the support of many people through crowdfunding, we were able to pay the teacher who wrote the written opinion, as well as the unpaid start fee to the proxy teacher. .

However, the professors are still doing their best to take the Supreme Court one step further.

We are planning to submit a new opinion. Could you please lend me your strength just a little more?

I apologize for asking all of you, but I sincerely hope that you will continue to support us.

If there is any progress, such as the date of the Supreme Court, we will inform you here again.

Stay tuned for this trial.

Thank you.

Masao Tanaka Support Office

We will inform you that the next date has been decided.

March 10 (Thursday) 10: 00-

Tokyo High Court No. 101 Court

" Thoughts of Professor Tanaka " is also posted on Masao Tanaka's website.

[Due date] From 13:10 on October 1st

[Place] Saitama District Court C Court 105

A judgment is scheduled.

[Date] From 13:10 on May 21st

[Place] Saitama District Court C Court 105

A trial is scheduled.

[Date and time] March 5th (Friday) 10: 30-

[Place] Saitama District Court C Court 105

Witness summons are planned.

We are planning to cross-examine the plaintiff himself (I), the principal at that time, and Professor Satoshi Takahashi of Saitama University who provided the written opinion.

Unlike before, it will take a day.

The debriefing session is undecided.

[Trial HP] https://trialsaitama.info

[Signature activity] http://chng.it/2PWWc6PXFJ