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This week’s featured article

Oriental Land Co. Ltd., the operator of Tokyo Disneyland, asked a court Tuesday to reject a suit filed by two female workers seeking damages for overwork and harassment while they were working as costumed performers at the theme park.

One of the contract workers, a 29-year-old woman, is on medical leave due to acute pain in her arm that developed after she appeared in parades and shows wearing various character costumes that weighed up to 30 kilograms, according to the complaint. The other worker, a 38-year-old woman, claims superiors told her to “go die” and that women “above age 30 are useless,” leading her to seek treatment for a psychosomatic disorder.

The two filed the suit at the Chiba District Court in July, seeking a combined ?7.55 million in damages from Oriental Land Co. for health problems developed as a result of their treatment at work.

During the first court hearing on Tuesday, the 29-year-old woman, who was employed in February 2015 and later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, said, “As a newcomer, I could not say I wanted to take a day off (even when I felt unwell).”

The other woman, employed in April 2008, said she experienced harassment and bullying in a closed space starting around 2013.

Labor authorities have already recognized some of their medical conditions as work-related and awarded compensation.

First published in The Japan Times on Nov. 14.

Warm up

One-minute chat about “Disneyland.”

Game

Collect words related to lawsuits, e.g., court, judge, compensation.

New words

1) acute: sharp, e.g., “The patient is suffering from acute appendicitis.”

2) psychosomatic: an illness or condition caused by a mental factor such as stress, e.g., “The doctor determined that all the patient’s problems were psychosomatic.”

3) thoracic: relating to the thorax (chest), e.g., “She works in the thoracic surgery department at the hospital.”

Guess the headline

Tokyo Disneyland seeks rejection of c_ _ _ _ _ _ _ performers l_ _ _ _ _ _

Questions

1) Why are the former employees suing the company?

2) How much money are the seeking?

3) What was the company’s response?

Let’s discuss the article

1) What do you think of Tokyo Disneyland?

2) What do you think of the lawsuit?

2) How can we make workplaces better for employees?

Reference

その人気が阴ることのない梦の国ですが、そこを现実の职场とし梦を与えることを仕事とする人々にとっては梦だけでは片づけられない现実があるようです。多くのエンターテイナーをかかえ人々に梦を与えることをその存在意义とする梦の国は、现実の人间である労働者を雇用する雇い主でもあります。

雇われるものが梦打ち砕かれることなく働き続けることができる环境を作るため、労働者と雇用主の関係性はどのように筑いていくべきなのでしょうか。朝の会に参加し皆さんで话し合ってみましょう。