WHILE it is certainly a good thing to maintain one’s health and fitness level, there is always a time and place to do so and it is most definitely not advisable to do so during working hours.
A worker in Japan was given the pink slip for going to the gym during his working hours.
Japanese news portal NHK reported that the supervisor working at Matsuyama City’s Urban Redevelopment Division, Kazushi Kono, was absent from his duties for 658 hours over 633 instances between April 2021 and in November 2024.
His employer estimated the value of his unauthorised absences reaching over 1.76 million yen (RM50,434) and the city administration has demanded he pay the entire amount.
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Kono agreed to pay the entire sum and expressed remorse for his actions.
Kono’s actions were revealed to the city administration in August 2024 to which he admitted to leaving work without permission and explained his arms experienced numbness and visited the gym to stretch and soak in the hot spring bath.
Kono’s direct supervisors assigned to him during the period he went for unauthorised gym visits were issued a warning by the city administration while the Urban Redevelopment while director and deputy section chief of the Development and Construction Department were reprimanded.
Following the incident, Matsuyama City’s mayor issued a public apology and pledged to improve disciplinary measures and avoid similar incidents in the future.
