This Japanese Official Fined Rs 12 Lakh For Taking Frequent Smoking Breaks During Office Hours

New Delhi: Smoking breaks during the office hours are often seen as a non-productive activity and can be used by workers to delay the important works and hamper the workflow in the organisation. But can you still believe a worker was fined of $14,500 or 12 lakh for taking smoking breaks more than 4,500 times at work in the span of 14 years?

Japan has a stringent and time-bound working culture, where minutes of late at workplace can attract stringent punishment and exorbitant fines. Many cases came in the past where workers had been penalised for getting late in the work for a few minutes.

The case is related to Osaka prefecuture in Japan. The Osaka authorities put a fine of $14,500 fine on 61-year-old civil officer at the director level post, according to the Straits Times. The Osaka prefectural government said the man smoked on the job for 355 hours and 19 minutes. His two coworkers were also fined for breaking the law.

The civil servant was also asked by the authorities to repay a significant portion of his income in addition to his disciplinary pay cut. He was found to have broken the Local Public Service Act's "duty of devotion." 

The smoking regulations in Osaka are among the toughest in the world with provisions of punishments and exorbitant fines. A complete bank on smoking in all offices and public areas owned by the government was announced in 2008 by the Osaka prefecture government. 2019 saw the end of the smoking ban for government workers.