不法…INJUSTICE…

The case has drawn considerable attention, both internationally and in Japan, as it shines a harsh spotlight on one of the long-standing traditions of Japanese corporate society: Harassment of employees, particularly those who become parents. 

Glen Wood, is a 49-year-old Canadian single father who had been working as an equity sales manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. (MUMSS). He filed a claim against the Japan-based brokerage, asserting that he had been the victim of "paternity harassment" since 2015. He asked the Tokyo District Court to order the firm to reverse its decision to put him on unpaid leave and recognize his rights as a father.

The case has drawn considerable attention, both internationally and in Japan, as it shines a harsh spotlight on one of the long-standing traditions of Japanese corporate society: Harassment of employees, particularly those who become parents. 

Glen Wood’s lawsuit states that when he first asked his company for paternity leave in 2015, he was rejected on the grounds that “there was no such precedent.” After the boy was born in October of that year, the firm was forced to accept Wood’s legal right to parental leave, but they then refused to acknowledge that he was the child’s father. After Wood submitted DNA test results to prove the was indeed the father, the company finally allowed him to take paternity leave. However, according to the legal statements in Wood’s case, after he informed the firm that he was going to become a single father, he suffered two years of willful mistreatment. He was then fired.

Japanese law guarantees all fathers paid leave to take care of their newborns (“paternity leave”). However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reports that only about 3% of eligible men avail themselves of that right. Some people might say this reflects cultural traditions that make Japanese fathers less inclined to spend time with their wives and newborn children, but it is an undeniable fact that one major reason for this extremely low rate is the harassment that new fathers receive at their workplaces. 

Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, employers are also required to show consideration to pregnant women by offering them shorter work hours or flexible work schedules. They’re also banned from firing or demoting expectant mothers due to pregnancy and required to give them maternity leave. Men are given essentially the same rights. In practice, however, companies often ignore the law — and the courts are generally more sympathetic to corporations than to the individual victims.

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