TOKYO -- The Tokyo District Court on Jan. 30 dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of eight part-time lecturers claiming their contracts were illegally terminated by Tokai University after working there for more than five years, and seeking confirmation of their employment.

The Labor Contracts Act stipulates that regular non-permanent workers gain the right to open-ended employment contracts after five years in the same job, but the law governing university teachers' employment terms places this threshold at 10 years for researchers. The key issue in the case was whether part-time lecturers fall under the category of regular workers or researchers.

The court ruled that the part-time lecturers were considered researchers, stating that "some of the part-time lecturers at Tokai University were engaged in research activities such as publishing papers and books."

The plaintiffs, who teach language and other classes, had been renewing one-year fixed-term employment contracts with the university. In 2022, after more than five years, they applied for conversion to open-ended contracts. However, the university determined that they were researchers and therefore ineligible, ultimately terminating their employment in March 2023, citing curriculum changes and other reasons.

The court emphasized that the university's faculty screening standards stipulated that faculty members "must be researchers and educators with outstanding research achievements and outstanding teaching experience," and that the plaintiffs were hired based on these standards.

At a press conference following the ruling, one of the plaintiffs announced plans to appeal, arguing, "We have no private office space and are not granted research funds."

(Japanese original by Haruka Udagawa, Lifestyle, Science & Environment News Department)