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For the club in Tokyo see Tokyo American Club(東京アメリカンクラブ) on the Japanese language wikipedia page.
For the luxury spa and resort located in Kohler, Wisconsin, U.S.A. see The American Club

American Club English School (アメリカンクラブ株式会社） was an "eikaiwa" (English conversation) school based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It ceased to exist in 1996, after being sued for withheld wages two times, by two groups of employees. The first lawsuit took place in December 1994 and the second in January 1996. The wages sought in the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of over US$65,000.[1][2][3][4]

Though the company was technically an English school, according to its business registration it was also involved in other business activities such as real estate, restaurants and bars, gas stations, and travel.[5]

Early History

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The American Club began operating in 1986,[6] and recruited students for English classes during the Japanese asset price bubble economy of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The classes were mainly taught by native English-speaking teachers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. At its peak it had a main school in Utsunomiya, and six branch schools in Mibu, Mooka, Oyama, Tochigi City (all in Tochigi Prefecture), Koga (in Ibaraki Prefecture) and Sendai (in Miyagi Prefecture). The school also contracted with companies, "jukus" (cram schools), kindergartens and high schools in Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures to send teachers to the companies/schools once or twice a week to teach English. [7][8][9][10] The American Club serviced students of all levels and ages.[11]

Financial Problems/First Lawsuit over Unpaid Wages

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After the burst of Japan's bubble economy in the early 1990s, the American Club began to suffer.[12][13] In summer 1994, employees' wages were late.[12][13] By October of that year, the school had stopped paying wages at all.[12][13] A group of teachers, led by Mr. Don MacLaren subsequently organized, formed a branch union through Japan's National Union of General Workers and took the company's president, Mr. Hiroaki (aka "Morio") Sugimoto, and director, Mr. Isao (aka “Yasuaki”) Konno, to court. [14][3] These employees received three months in back wages on December 26, 1994, with a stipulation insisted on by Mr. Sugimoto that "teachers will refrain from damaging the company's reputation".[13][13]

Continued Recruitment of Employees from Overseas

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Though the school had serious problems making its payroll between 1994 and 1996,[12][13] it continued to recruit and hire new employees (both before the December 1994 lawsuit and after it) from overseas through a broker in Vancouver, Canada, as well as from within Japan, through The Japan Times "help wanted" ads.[15][16][17] Many of The Japan Times' ads were for positions at an affiliated school Mr. Sugimoto ran - International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou (aka IBL), but many of those hired through those ads subsequently worked at the American Club.[18][19]

Mr. Sugimoto was the landlord of the American Club spaces in Utsunomiya, and collected rent from the American Club when the schools' teachers and secretaries were not being paid.[20]

By December 1995 the school was again three months late paying employees' wages.[21] By this time Mr. Sugimoto had legally resigned his position as president of the company, and Mr. Konno became its president.[5] However, on the business registrations for the Oyama and Mooka schools, Mr. Sugimoto's name was the only one listed as being responsible for the school.[22][23]

Disappearance of Mr. Isao Konno while President of American Club

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During the 1996 New Year's holidays, Mr. Konno disappeared.[3] In a letter to an American Club employee he claimed Mr. Sugimoto had threatened him and his (Mr. Konno's) wife with harassment from sound trucks operated by right wing organizations if he (Mr. Konno) tried to declare bankruptcy for the American Club. In the letter Mr. Konno explained that because Mr. Sugimoto relied on the financial solvency of the American Club in order to obtain business loans, he (Mr. Sugimoto) could not afford to have the American Club be declared bankrupt by its own president. Mr. Konno made no further contact with the American Club teachers.[24][25]

Mr. Yasuki Yamaichi Assumes Position as Company President

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After Mr. Konno ceased contact Mr. Yasuki Yamaichi of Fukuoka City, more than 1,000 kilometers from Utsunomiya, assumed legal responsibility for the school.[26] In a January 25, 1996 article on the American Club in the Asahi Shinbun, a reporter from the newspaper made a call to the company's phone number in Fukuoka, but the person who answered the phone hung up on the reporter.[21] None of the teachers met Mr. Yamaichi, and with no one coming forward to take charge of the company, the teachers eventually stopped working for it. (However, after the American Club stopped doing business, Mr. Sugimoto continued to run IBL (which was government-supported).[27]

Second Lawsuit over Unpaid Wages

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A second lawsuit was filed by employees for three months in unpaid wages in January 1996,[28] but no one showed up to represent the school in court, and the subsequent court order to pay was ignored by the school. Eventually the employees received 80% of their back wages through the Labor Standards Office of the Japanese government.[29]

With no income received after three months, many teachers returned to their home countries. Some of the employees (both teachers and Japanese staff) chose to forgo their American Club pay, afraid of repercussions from Mr. Sugimoto and Mr. Konno if they sued.[30] The total amount of delinquent wages owed all employees during the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of more than US$100,000. Also, students, who had paid in advance for as much as a year's worth of classes, lost an undetermined amount of money.[31][11][32] In addition, rent on the company’s spaces in branch schools, as well as rent on the teachers’ apartments (which had been deducted by the company from teachers’ pay) was as much as a year in arrears by the time of the second lawsuit.[6]

News Reports

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During the course of the second lawsuit, in January 1996, articles were run in the local edition of Japanese language newspapers: The Asahi Shinbun[33] and the Shimotsuke Shinbun.[34] An article was also run by a local English language newspaper: Networking[35] (now defunct). Unlike the Japanese language papers the Networking article outlined the root causes of the lawsuits (specifically the events leading up to the first lawsuit) and focused on the immigrant employees involved. Later, Mr. MacLaren, wrote several essays, which were published the letters to the editor sections in Business Week[36]The Japan Times[37][38], and the Mainichi Daily News.[39][40] However, MacLaren's articles did not mention the school or the directors of the school by name (because he was concerned that if he did, his articles would be rejected by the press.[41] Nevertheless, to those familiar with the lawsuits it was clear MacLaren was writing about the events occurring during the last two years of the American Club's existence.[41] MacLaren also provided The Japan Times with a list of organizations he had contacted in order to help resolve the pay problems, which the Japan Times subsequently published numerous times.[42]

Aftermath

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Eleven years after the American Club's demise, the employees of the biggest English School in Japan, NOVA, went through similar problems.[43] NOVA employees weren't paid and the company went bankrupt. However, in contrast to the American Club, criminal charges were brought against the president of NOVA.[44] It was suggested by some American Club employees, students and landlords of American Club spaces that criminal charges be brought against Mr. Sugimoto and Mr. Konno, but the employees' lawyers decided not to pursue that course of action.[45]

Don MacLaren/National Union of General Workers

[edit]

After leaving the American Club, Mr. MacLaren began working for a trading company in Tokyo, where according to court documents he was ordered to forge signatures, translate forged documents into English and send the forged documents to his company's clients. [46]He contacted the National Union of General Workers and lawyers, confronted his company with the documents and demanded the company apologize to him and the parties it had defrauded, which included the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Japanese government.[46] The company denied any wrongdoing until MacLaren and the union showed its directors copies of the forged documents. The company then apologized, and stated Mr. MacLaren bore no responsibility. Later however, the company accused Mr. MacLaren of willingly participating. Mr. MacLaren and the company went to court while Mr. MacLaren continued working for the company. Eventually, the company admitted its wrongdoing, once again stated Mr. MacLaren bore no responsibility and paid him compensation.[46]

Notes

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  1. ^ 朝日新聞　(Asahi Shinbun), Utsunomiya edition, Utsunomiya, Jan. 25, 1996
  2. ^ 下野新聞 (Shimotsuke Shinbun), Utsunomiya, Jan. 26, 1996
  3. ^ a b c Networking, Utsunomiya, Jan. 1996
  4. ^ 和解書　(Court agreement)、宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Dec. 26, 1994
  5. ^ a b アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1995
  6. ^ a b 朝日新聞 (Asahi Shinbun)
  7. ^ American Club contracts for outside/company classes
  8. ^ American Club teacher logs
  9. ^ American Club branch school logs
  10. ^ American Club taxi/train receipts for teachers teaching outside/company classes
  11. ^ a b American Club student files
  12. ^ a b c d American Club employees' payroll receipts/bank receipts (Tochigi Ginko/Asahi Ginko)
  13. ^ a b c d e f 和解書　(Court agreement)
  14. ^ National Union of General Workers Japan, Utsunomiya branch records
  15. ^ Correspondence and taped conversations between American Club employees, Mr. Hiroaki Sugimoto, Mr. Isao Konno and lawyers,
  16. ^ American Club teachers' contracts, 1994-1995
  17. ^ The Japan Times help wanted ads, 1994-1995
  18. ^ インタナショナルビジネスランゲージ専門学校登記 (International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1995
  19. ^ American Club teachers' contracts, 1994-1995
  20. ^ 登記(Business Registrations for real estate in Motoimaizumi, Utsunomiya), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Mar. 1998
  21. ^ a b 朝日新聞　(Asahi Shinbun)
  22. ^ アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Oyama Legal Records Office, November. 1995
  23. ^ アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Mooka Legal Records Office, Nov. 1995
  24. ^ Konno, Isao, Letter to American Club, Feb. 1996
  25. ^ Networking, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996
  26. ^ アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1996
  27. ^ インタナショナルビジネスランゲージ専門学校登記 (International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Dec. 1996
  28. ^ Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所
  29. ^ Conversations with and payments through Labor Standards Office, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996-Sep. 1996
  30. ^ Correspondence and conversations among American Club employees, Mr. Hiroaki Sugimoto, Mr. Isao Konno and lawyers, 1994-1996
  31. ^ Correspondence and conversations among American Club employees, lawyers and students
  32. ^ Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Jan. 1996
  33. ^ 朝日新聞　(Asahi Shinbun)
  34. ^ 下野新聞 (Shimotsuke Shinbun), Utsunomiya, Jan. 26, 1996 and February 25, 1996
  35. ^ Networking
  36. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/1998/49/b3607181.htm
  37. ^ "Labor scofflaws often go unpunished," The Japan Times, Tokyo, December 14, 1997
  38. ^ "Labor scofflaws still running amok," The Japan Times, Tokyo, April 4, 1999
  39. ^ "Pros and cons of Japan bashing," Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, October 31, 1998
  40. ^ "The back-wages of sin," Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, April 19, 1999
  41. ^ a b Correspondence and conversations among former American Club Employees, students and landlords of American Club buildings in Mooka and Oyama, 1997 - 1999 Cite error: The named reference "Correspondence and conversations among former American Club Employees, students and landlords of American Club buildings in Mooka and Oyama, 1997 - 1999" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  42. ^ "Useful telephone numbers," The Japan Times, Tokyo, 1997-2001
  43. ^ "Stranded foreign teachers left penniless after Nova's fall". METI. 31 October 2007
  44. ^ "Police arrest founder of Japan's top language school," Inquier.net. 2008-06-24
  45. ^ Correspondence and conversations among American Club employees, students, landlords and lawyers
  46. ^ a b c Court agreement/evidence, 平成１３年１０月２日、東京地方裁判民事弟１９部、和解調書：事件の表示　平成１２年（ワ）弟２４７０５号（本訴事件）、平成１３年（ワ）７０４号（反訴事件）、本訴原告（反訴被告）株式会社ユーエスシー、本訴被告（反訴原告）ドナルド　ロイ　マクラレン (Tokyo District Court, Civil Court Department Number 19, Court Agreement： Case　Incident - Heisei 12 (Year 2000) (wa) Number 24705 (Original lawsuit)； Case Incident - Heisei 13 (Year 2001) (wa) 704 (Countersuit), Original Plaintiff (Countersuit Defendant) USC Ltd., Original defendant (Countersuit Plaintiff) Donald Roy MacLaren


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