Photo/Illutration Lawyers representing plaintiffs hold up a sign that says “an unjust ruling” after the Sapporo District Court ruled local governments’ welfare benefit cuts were constitutional on March 29. (Kengo Hiyoshi)

SAPPORO--A district court here on March 29 upheld local governments’ reductions of welfare benefits and also ruled for the first time that the cuts did not violate the Constitution.

In the ruling, Presiding Judge Tomoko Takebe of the Sapporo District Court said the labor ministry did not abuse its discretionary power when making the reductions between 2013 and 2015.

About 130 welfare recipients in Hokkaido and others filed the group lawsuit, demanding the local governments nullify their decisions to reduce benefits for three years from 2013.

They argued that the cuts violated the Constitution, which guarantees “the right to maintain a minimum standard of wholesome and cultured living.”

Similar lawsuits have been filed at 29 district courts around the nation. In June 2020, the Nagoya District Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim.

But in February this year, the Osaka District Court nullified local governments’ decisions to cut welfare benefits. It singled out the central government's use of an unreasonable consumer price index system to calculate the rate of falling prices, but did not rule on the constitutionality. 

The plaintiffs are expected to appeal the Sapporo court ruling, which was the third issued in the lawsuits filed across the nation. 

On three occasions from 2013, the central government cut the livelihood assistance allocation of welfare benefits, such as expenses to cover food and utilities, by up to 10 percent from the previous figure.

It based the reductions on its own index factoring in the rate of falling prices.

The ministry designated 2008 as the starting point of reflecting fluctuations in prices in the welfare benefits.

The plaintiffs argued that 2008 was an aberration that saw a spike in the consumer price index due to global surges in crude oil and other prices.

They argued the calculation was arbitrary because the calculated rate of price declines for certain products was larger than what it actually was. 

The Sapporo District Court in its ruling said whether to factor in an economic index such as commodity prices rests in the hands of the labor minister. Therefore, the decision was not illegal.

The court also said that it was necessary to reflect the price decreases after 2008 and that the ministry’s calculation was not deemed arbitrary.

The court also said the plaintiffs’ standard of living, such as living conditions and social and cultural activities, “did not fall below the minimum standard.”

The labor ministry said in a prepared statement that the ruling “recognized the legality of the revised standard.”

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