A Japanese civil servant recently landed in hot waters for smoking during work hours more than 4,500 times in 14 years. He received a penalty of about $11,000, The Straits Times reported.
The authorities in Osaka laid down the law on the 61-year-old civil servant along with two of his colleagues, who were in the finance department. In September 2022, the human resource office received an anonymous tip that the trio were secretly stashing tobacco. After learning about the incident, their supervisor called them and warned of dire consequences if they were caught smoking again. However, the trio continued smoking.
The 61-year-old director-level employee was then asked to return 1.44 million yen of his salary, in addition to his disciplinary wage reduction, the outlet reported. He was deemed to have violated the "duty of devotion" under the Local Public Service Act.
The prefectural government revealed that the man clocked up 355 hours and 19 minutes of smoking on duty.
Osaka has some of the strictest smoking laws in the world. It introduced a total ban on smoking cigarettes in government premises including office and public spaces in 2008. Government employees were banned from smoking during work hours in 2019.
{{/usCountry}}Osaka has some of the strictest smoking laws in the world. It introduced a total ban on smoking cigarettes in government premises including office and public spaces in 2008. Government employees were banned from smoking during work hours in 2019.
{{/usCountry}}Reactions to the penalty have been sympathetic. Some argued that having to go off-site for a puff would have meant wasting more time, while others found the fine harsh, saying one can waste time by drinking tea, eating snacks or just chatting, but those are not punishable offences, so neither should be smoking tobacco.