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According to [this website](https://learn-the-basics-of-
japanese.blogspot.com/p/s71-1-123a1-b4-alb1b2-5-gb-5-yes-no-1x2.html) (I think
it is 初級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック), if there are no time adverbs in an adjective
clause, you have to use ていた or ている to mean an action in the past. However, if
a time adverb is used in the adjective clause, you have to use ていた.

For example,

**Example 1**

> その店で{働いていた/働いている}男性がテレビに出た。

働いていた and 働いている are both correct. They both mean "The man who worked at the
store appeared on TV."

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/n7Oxw.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/n7Oxw.png)

But when there is a time expression. Only ていた is acceptable.

**Example 2**

> その店で去年{○働いていた/×働いている}男性がテレビに出た。

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RK2Qk.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RK2Qk.png)

I am not sure why adding a time expression makes ている not an option.

This is my guess：

If there are no time expressions, it will be like we can either look back at
the past or just stand at the past point looking at the action, so ている and ていた
are both fine. But when there is a time expression in the adjective clause, it
narrows down the meaning, so we can only use ていた or maybe ている, and in this
case it is ていた.
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question
tense relative-clauses aspect subordinate-clauses
その店で去年{○働いていた/×働いている}男性がテレビに出た。 - why is that?
This is probably much less complicated than you seem to be thinking.

Let’s look at this sentence first.

> その店で働いている男性がテレビに出た。

What it means is actually ambiguous. The man may be working in that store now
or was working when he appeared in the TV show. This ambiguity is because
働いている can be understood in either absolute tense (the former) or relative
tense (the latter). It’s up to the listener which interpretation to choose.

Now let’s look at this.

> その店で **今** 働いている男性がテレビに出た。

This is no longer ambiguous because by adding 今, you eliminate the possibility
of relative tense and thus reduce the burden on the listener. 今 means now. You
mean that. The man is working there now. You as the speaker wouldn’t choose
the past tense (働いていた) to say that.

Now this.

> その店で **去年** 働いていた男性がテレビに出た。

This has the same effect of eliminating the possibility of relative tense.
This time you are specifically talking about last year. Then, why would you
use the present tense?
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answer