Paternity Harassment Lawsuit Brings Attention To Japan's Low Birth Rate And Workplace Bullying

An equity sales manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. has filed a claim against the Japan-based brokerage, asserting that he's been the victim of "paternity harassment" since 2015. He asked the Tokyo District Court to order the firm to withdraw its decision to put him on unpaid leave and recognize his rights as a father.

The case is drawing attention not only internationally but also in Japan, bringing attention to the bullying of working parents -- a social problem that undoubtedly contributes to Japan's declining birth rate. The bullying of working parents was recently highlighted when municipal lawmaker, Yuka Ogata, brought her 7-month-old baby to her job in the overwhelmingly male Japanese legislature, outraging members, who finally kicked her and the baby out. But working mothers aren't the only ones subject to harassment. Fathers can also be treated badly. 

The man who filed the unusual lawsuit on this issue, Glen Wood, is a 47-year-old Canadian single father.

The lawsuit alleges that when Wood first asked the company for paternity leave, he was rejected since “there was no such precedent.” The company then refused to acknowledge he was the father of the child, when the boy was born in October of 2015. After Wood submitted a DNA test result to prove his status as the father, the company finally allowed him to take some paternity leave. The filings allege he endured two years of mistreatment after informing the firm that he was going to become a de facto single father.

 

PROMOTED

Japanese law guarantees fathers that they can take paid leave to take care of their newborns aka “paternity leave” but the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare says that only roughly 3% of men avail themselves of that right. Recently, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly encouraged men to take a more active role in raising children.

Unsympathetic

Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, employers are required to pay 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 also given essentially the same rights. In practice, however, the law is not strictly followed -- and the local courts are hardly sympathetic.

There is a legal precedent to Wood’s case. A physical therapist in Hiroshima was stripped of her job title and her managerial allowance following her second pregnancy -- and her request for a “lighter workload” -- in 2008. The woman, who had been working at the hospital since 1994 and was promoted to vice-director of her department in 2004 was told that there were no vice-director positions available when she came back. She sued her employer for 1.7 million yen ($15,2599) in damages for violating the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and Act on the Welfare of Workers Who Take Care of Children or Other Family Members.

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The Hiroshima District Court rejected both of her claims in 2012, with the District Court arguing that “the plaintiff never objected to the shift to a lighter workload.”

More on Forbes: It Won't Be Japan's Startups That Revive The Country's Innovation, But Its Mid-Sized Tech Firms

It took until October 2014 for the Supreme Court to strike down the decisions made in the lower courts. The Supreme Court sent the case back down to the Hiroshima High Court, arguing that the proceedings regarding the necessity for a demotion were insufficient and that such discrimination in principle was unacceptable.

After contacting Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. directly with a list of questions, the firm’s public relations department replied with an email in Japanese. Translated here, it stated: “Our firm, from the past, has enthusiastically supported childcare leave, regardless of nationality or gender. And we sincerely dealt with Mr. Glen’s (グレン氏) efforts to obtain childcare leave." But it added, "We can't discuss the particular details of his claims."

The company's law firm issued a stern letter to Wood on November 10 warning him that speaking to the media would result in Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., “taking necessary measures” against him.

Media reaction

The Japanese media has pulled little punches in their coverage of the case and quickly used the word patahara “paternity harassment” to describe it. Even the conservative Nikkei newspaper has followed the case. Business Insider Japan headlined their highly critical article on the case with a quote from Wood, “That’s why this country has a low birth rate.”

Wood first came to Japan almost 30 years ago and speaks the language fluently.

He said of his firm: “I can remember in meetings the management complaining about women who got pregnant. They'd say: ‘What’s the matter with her? She’s having a baby? Do women just come to this company just to get knocked up?’ Having a child was looked at as a betrayal of the company. I didn’t realize that someday I’d be the one they were complaining about, for trying to balance work and family.”

However, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., disputes this. In a statement, they said: "Before this incident (Wood) happened, we set up a system for employees to take childcare leave, and have enthusiastically supported all employees taking it regardless of gender or nationality. For the fiscal year 2016, 100% of (eligible) female employees took maternity leave, and for male employees, 42% took paternity leave. For the fiscal year 2017, we are striving to make sure 100% of the (eligible) men take their parental leave.”

More on Forbes: Shinzo Abe's Anti-Climatic Victory In Japan: Power Without Popularity

The CEO of Natural Rights, and women’s rights activist, Sayaka Osakabe, in a November 3 editorial published on Japan’s Yahoo News, took up Wood’s court case and lamented that these kinds of incidents were still rampant, noting that demoting parents who returned to the office was a form of harassment. She wrote, “He has great courage (in Japan) to come forward, show his face and talk about this.”

Japan’s current Minister of Gender Equality, Masaji Matsuyama, is also Minister of Measures for Declining Birthrate. It seems a no-brainer that if Japan wants to fix the latter problem it will have to fix the former one as well. Japanese women and men are in a tough spot. On one side of the spectrum, it seems that they’re being punished in the workplace for giving birth to children. On the other side, they’re being told to breed, especially women.

While it is up to the courts to determine whether Wood’s claims are correct, public opinion in Japan seems to favor Wood and others in his situation. The outcome of this case will likely send a message to other Japanese men and women considering whether or not they want to risk having children.

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