The prevalence of the employment custom of saiy¨ naitei (tentative job offers) may well be peculiar to Japan. As I touched upon in my March 27, 2012, column, university juniors and seniors skip class to attend work seminars, company orientations, internships and, finally, a series of tests and interviews with prospective employers.
Universities wholeheartedly approve of this ²õ³ó¨±°ì²¹³Ù²õ³Ü job-hunting mania and are therefore quite lenient about attendance, assignments and other mere scholastic responsibilities. If things go well, seniors find themselves the lucky recipients of a saiy¨ naitei ¡ª an early promise of employment to begin the first April after graduation.
But what does the law say about students who receive this saiy¨ naitei promise of employment only to have it canceled before the job actually begins? It¡¯s not technically a dismissal but rather a naitei torikeshi ¡ª a canceling of the job promise. The Supreme Court on July 20, 1979, recognized naitei as a binding contract that could be canceled only if the employer¡¯s situation had changed and there was rational, objective and sufficient reason for the decision based on social norms. Japan¡¯s highest court ruled against Dai Nippon Printing, making clear that naitei was not something that could be canceled easily.
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