International Business Law and Its Environment 9th Edition by Richard Schaffer,Filiberto Agusti,Lucien Dhooge

Exercise 1

BACKGROUND AND FACTS
Like all Japanese firms with more than ten employees, Kochi Hoso, a radio broadcasting company, was required to maintain rules of employment that specified the conditions under which an employee could be discharged. Kochi Hoso clearly specified that tardiness for a broadcast was cause for dismissal. No contractual provision excused such tardiness. The plaintiff, a radio announcer, had failed twice to arrive at the studio in time for a news broadcast. After the second offense, Kochi Hoso discharged the plaintiff, pointing to the unambiguous rules. Plaintiff sought reinstatement, arguing that although the discharge was within the rules, it was unreasonable or contrary to public policy. The Supreme Court found no reasonable cause for termination.
PER CURIAM
Even when an employee's conduct constitutes a cause for a discharge, an employer may not always discharge the employee. It should be noted that when the said discharge is found to be significantly unreasonable under the specific situation so that it could hardly be approved as being appropriate in the light of the socially accepted view, such a discharge should be considered to be an abusive exercise of an employer's power to discharge employees and, thus, to be invalid.
Decision. The Supreme Court of Japan ordered that the radio announcer be reinstated in his job.
If a firm were establishing an office in Japan, how would it determine the "socially accepted" view on the discharge of employees for tardiness? Would it look in the relevant statutes?