Photo/Illutration The Nagasaki District Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

NAGASAKI--A private high school operator here agreed to pay 1.85 million yen ($12,650) to a staff member for the long hours she spent coaching students at an extracurricular sports club, her lawyer said Nov. 9.

The out-of-court settlement was reached Nov. 8 after the operator accepted the teacher’s argument that her time at the extracurricular sports club should be considered overtime work.

The school agreed to pay the woman, who is in her 50s, the equivalent of OT pay for the 2018 and 2019 academic years.

The school also agreed to pay her extra in the future if she works beyond the statutory working hours.

“We would like to review how we manage the working hours and conditions of our teachers and staff members, and sincerely plan to create a good working environment,” an official from the school operator said.

The plaintiff sought around 16 million yen in her lawsuit filed at the Nagasaki District Court in September 2020.

She told the court that her working hours at the school were from 8:25 a.m. to 5:05 p.m.

But after she was put in charge of the sports club in 2015, she had to attend morning sessions from about 7:30 a.m. on weekdays and from around 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. after school classes ended.

She also said she was required to coach the students in the club on weekends, giving her no private time for herself.

The school paid her a monthly allowance of only around 14,000 yen for all the hours she put in for the extracurricular activity, she said.

During the trial, she argued that the school distinguished itself by focusing on extracurricular clubs.

She said that she herself encouraged young people in faraway areas, such as remote islands, to enroll at the high school as scholarship students and join the extracurricular clubs.

The plaintiff said she let some students stay in her home because the school had no dormitory.

The school knew about this arrangement, but it didn’t give her extra financial support, she argued.

The school’s side said in court that her coaching for the extracurricular sports club was a voluntary activity, and that the allowance paid to her matched those provided by public schools in similar circumstances.

However, the judge was of the opinion that the woman’s time spent at the club should be considered working hours, considering how much the high school focused on extracurricular clubs and what the plaintiff did at the school.

The judge proposed that the two parties hold settlement talks.

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