Man fined Rs900,000 for taking 'too many' smoke breaks at work

A 61-year-old Japanese man was fined over Rs900,000 for taking too many smoke breaks at work despite receiving warnings numerous times from the office administration.

According to The Mainichi, a Japanese man was fined for over Rs900,000 for taking smoke breaks more than 4,500 times in 14 years.

The employee will see 10% salary deductions for over six months due to the smoking breaks.

It emerged that the employee took over 3,400 unauthorized smoke breaks during work, whereas, the human resource discovered a secret stash of tobacco owned by the man and two other employees in the organisation.

Soon after the man’s supervisor warned him and the other employees against the dire consequences of smoking again in the office. However, the warning did not stop the three people from discarding their smoking habit, the report said.

Subsequently, the employees received a heavy fine.

As per law, Osaka has strict rules relating to smoking. It is banned on government premises such as offices and public schools since 2008. In 2019, the ban was extended to smoking while at work.