A train driver in western Japan had driven the train into the depot a minute too late in shunting duty.
His employer, the West Japan Railway Company (JR West), took the oversight seriously.
The company cut the man's salary by 43 yen, or the equivalent of 31 cents.
That was not legal, the district court in Okayama ruled on Tuesday.
The man, who died this year according to Japanese media reports, will be paid the reduced salary posthumously.
However, the court rejected the demanded compensation for emotional stress in the amount of 2.2 million yen (15,900 euros).
Waited at the wrong platform
In Japan, which is known for the punctuality of its trains, the case attracted media attention.
On June 18, 2020, the engine driver in Okayama, western Japan, initially waited on the wrong track to take over a train there.
When he noticed the mistake, he hurried to the correct platform.
However, the handover of the train was delayed by two minutes due to his mishap, and the train arrived at the depot one minute late.
JR West soberly assessed that the man had not worked for two minutes and reduced his salary accordingly.
This upset the driver so much that he took action.
A complaint to the health and safety authorities resulted in the absenteeism being reduced from two to one minute.
That minute was now the subject of the court case brought by the plaintiff in March 2021.
The man had rejected an out-of-court settlement offered by the company.
His heirs will now receive 56 yen or the equivalent of 40 cents.
This corresponds to the original pay cut of 43 yen and an overtime premium of 13 yen.
The railway companies in Japan are under economic pressure because many routes, especially in rural areas, are no longer economical.
Thrift, however, should not have been the reason for the extraordinary salary cut, but rather the great tendency to be punctual.
As a rule, the Shinkansen express trains in Japan, which are a historical model for the German ICE trains and which sometimes run every ten minutes on the main routes, arrive exactly to the minute according to the timetable.
Very rare delays, even if only a minute, will result in the train driver apologizing to the passengers via announcement.
In a country where conductors bow to passengers when entering and exiting the carriage, this seems quite normal.
However, the penchant for punctuality mixed with politeness sometimes leads to bizarre situations.
A few years ago, a train company apologized because a suburban train in Tokyo was not late but left 20 seconds early.