How to Keep Records of Workplace Power Harassment | Recording Date and Time, Place, Event, and Impact Separately
Questions asked at consultation desks
When an employee describes harm at a company's consultation desk, there are cases where the person in charge asks, "Could this have been part of guidance?" The intent of the question differs from desk to desk. If when, where, and what happened is recorded, the meeting can confirm the facts by going through those records.
When an experience is described only orally at a company desk, to a lawyer, or at a Labour Standards Inspection Office (労働基準監督署), the person in charge may find the situation hard to grasp. Records that show dates and media narrow down the points to be checked. Which procedure to pursue is decided individually by the place consulted.
Items in a record
One method is to write each record in four separate items: date and time, place or medium, event, and impact. Using these four items as a guide makes it easier to separate how much to write and whether to include feelings or guesses.
| Date and time | When it happened. If unknown, "unknown" is written. If estimated, the basis is noted briefly. |
|---|---|
| Place or medium | Where it happened: a meeting room, email, Slack, a hallway, an online meeting, and so on. The type of medium is also written. |
| Event | What happened. Observable facts are written as "I was ..." or "I was told ...", without guesses or interpretation. |
| Impact | What effect it had on health or daily life. Verifiable items such as medical certificates, absences, changes in sleep, or starting medication are written. |
A record can be kept even if some items are blank. Unknown items are written as "unknown" and filled in once they become known.
The other party's intent and the writer's perception
What the other party intended cannot be read directly from the records. Writing the writer's perception separately from the event allows a later reader to distinguish what actually happened from how the writer perceived it.
The event field holds a verifiable fact, such as "On November 2, 2023, the invitation email for the regular project meeting was not sent to me alone (screenshot of inbox saved)," and a perception such as "I felt I was being isolated" is written in a separate sentence or field.
Examples of materials that can serve as records
- Screenshots of email and chat (Slack, Teams). Taken so that the send and receive times appear on screen.
- Notes in work reports or a planner. Notes written on the day of an event make it easier to explain later when they were written.
- LINE messages from coworkers, or notes of what coworkers said. Even if a coworker did not witness the event, these record the date on which the coworker was consulted.
- Medical certificates and treatment records. Records from visits to a psychosomatic medicine or psychiatry clinic.
- Attendance records and PC logs. These can sometimes be used to check clock-in and clock-out times or when an instruction was given.
Organizing with the organizing tool
In the organizing tool, input is entered in the following order.
- Write out memories and the records at hand. Diaries, notes, copies of LINE messages, and so on are written out in the order of when, by whom, what was done, and what the impact was. Text mixed with feelings can also be entered.
- List the records at hand. Recordings, emails, work reports, screenshots, medical certificates, and so on are listed by "name, date, summary of content." Files are not uploaded; everything is entered as text.
- Produce draft fact summary and timeline. From the entered content, the organizing tool produces a draft fact summary and timeline. The output is checked against the original records, and errors and omissions are corrected.
The output looks like this.
1. Overview
The complainant has recorded reprimands, withholding of information, and isolation by a direct supervisor. These began in October 2023, initially about once or twice a month, and from November onward several times a week. In January 2024 the complainant visited a psychosomatic medicine clinic and was diagnosed with a depressive state.
2. Timeline and list of records (excerpt)
| 11/02 | Isolation | The invitation email for the regular meeting was not sent to the complainant alone. Screenshot saved. | [SS] |
| 11/15 | Reprimand | At an all-hands meeting, said "Can't you even do this job?" Three other team members present. | [Diary] |
| 12/08 | Isolation | Only the complainant's access to the team's shared folder was removed. Verifiable in IT logs. | [Log] |
| 01/14 | Impact | Visited a psychosomatic medicine clinic. Diagnosed with a depressive state. | [Medical certificate] |
Actual output depends on what is entered. In AI-based organizing, content that was not written can be added and content that was written can be dropped.
Types of places to consult
Places to consult include the company's consultation desk, lawyers, and Labour Standards Inspection Offices.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual case.