This practice was almost unheard of until 2009 but has become increasingly common since Kenji Kamiyama took over as CEO. If Gaba considers that instructors have not improved their performance over the review period, they will “debelt” the instructor, move them down to a lower pay grade. There have been incidents where the reason given has been “attendance issues”. In some cases, this has been because instructors have been sick and have therefore cancelled lessons. In effect this means that instructors have been threatened with a pay cut for being sick. Many instructors work a long schedule with early mornings and/or late nights, a condition which is not conducive to good health. Not only does Gaba not pay sick leave, it is now threatening to financially penalize instructors who become sick and are unable to work. In addition, the R slots, introduced in July 2006, have been increasingly used from 2008 onwards to ensure that lessons cancelled by clients are reopened so other clients can book them. The impact of instructors on this is that they are only paid once, whereas Gaba receives two payments. Also, if the client booking the new lesson has not requested a specific instructor, the booking system will force the lesson onto the instructor with an R. This means that other instructors who may have available lessons, will not get the lesson and will therefore not be paid. This reduces Gaba’s costs but is detrimental to instructor’s income.