A SENIOR Japanese executive forced to pluck weeds from a car park for more than 30 years has won a landmark case against his employers.

The judgment and £70,000 payout will bring about a cultural shift for Japanese corporations that prize loyalty above all: salarymen who speak up against their bosses have finally won the protection of the law.

But it will probably not change the life of Hiroaki Kushioka. On Monday he will dress for work in suit and tie, and again report to the office for unnecessary weeding duties.

In 1974, three years after joining Tonami Transportation, a large haulage company in Toyama, as an administrator, Mr Kushioka spoke out against his company’s involvement in illegal cartels. Every day since then he has suffered a bizarre series of psychological tortures at the hands of his bosses.

The day after blowing the whistle, Mr Kushioka, 58, was moved to the company’s training centre on the outskirts of town and shown to his new desk — a table in the corner of a small hut with nothing on it.

As a university graduate who had previously managed office accounts, his new duties were more straightforward: he was to inspect the car park and remove any plants that made their way through the cracks in the concrete.

“Sometimes, the pattern of my day would change and I would perform some other completely meaningless task,” Mr Kushioka said. “I might be told to wash the dishes in the canteen or raise and lower the company flag outside the car park. For the rest of the time, I was forced to kill time at a completely empty desk.”

The only human contact he has had during his 30 years of employment is a daily visit from his boss. For about an hour before home-time, Mr Kushioka is relentlessly harangued and urged to resign.

After a period, Mr Kushioka brought a computer to his hut to work on a book describing how whistle-blowing changed his life. He was given a tongue-lashing from his boss for pursuing private activities during company time.

Despite his strange treatment, Mr Kushioka does not regret his actions and has never considered leaving Tonami Transport. “I knew that as a person who blew the whistle and exposed my name in the public as a whistle-blower, my future road was set in thorns,” he said. “I couldn’t leave the company because now I was for ever branded as a whistle- blower, I would never find a job in another Japanese company and I have a family to support.”

Japanese companies are notorious for adopting bullying tactics that force an employee to resign, rather than going through the legal complexities of a dismissal.

Mr Kushioka emerged from his suit with the court satisfied that corporate whistle-blowing was in the public interest and should be protected by the law. He added that while his case has been under way, he has spoken to numerous salarymen who want to know more about exposing illegalities at their companies.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• 'Was it real?' The US bailout nightmare
• Iranian opposition plays the long game