[/floatl]Asahi: Temp worker agency dispatched underage workers to factories
Tokyo police have arrested a senior employee of a staffing agency on suspicion of registering junior high school students and dispatching the underage workers to factories and other jobs, sources said. Investigators searched the offices of Power Station Co., based in Tokyo's Ota Ward, on July 23, and arrested the employee who worked at a now-defunct service center in Shinagawa Ward, the sources said. The suspect is accused of violating the Labor Standards Law, which stipulates that children cannot be employed, in principle, until past March 31 after their 15th birthday. According to police sources, the arrested employee was second in rank to the manager of the service center. Between October and December 2006, the center registered several junior high school students in Tokyo and is suspected of dispatching them to a distribution company where they worked in a warehouse and factory...A Power Station official told The Asahi Shimbun the students had lied about their age. "We couldn't see through their lies," the official said, adding that the company prohibits the employment of even senior high school students...The law also stipulates that employers hiring those under 18 must keep copies of official family registers to certify the teenagers' ages. Sources said the service center did not appear to have the documents on hand...more...
