Japan high court rejects paternity harassment allegations
Civil Rights
working at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley.
The case of Glen Wood, a Canadian who has lived in Japan for more than three decades, has come to symbolize concerns over “paternity harassment,” or “pata hara.” Wood’s is a rare case, for Japan, of a father seeking to take parental leave. Maternity harassment is more common.
Wood began his fight in 2017, alleging he was harassed and forced from his job after taking parental leave when his son was born in 2015.
The company rejected Wood’s request for parental leave. His son was born prematurely and he rushed to see him though the company told him to just keep working, according to the lawsuit.
When Wood returned to work in 2016, he was stripped of some of his responsibilities and excluded from business meetings, according to court testimony. The company dismissed him in 2018.
In a 21-page ruling, the Tokyo High Court rejected the harassment claims. It defended the company’s acts as “inevitable.”
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley said Thursday’s ruling showed the company’s view had been accepted.
Wood said he would take his case to the Supreme Court, even if that means the legal battle might continue until his son, now 6, is in college.
“Harassment is never an acceptable form of management,” he said at a news conference at the health and labor ministry.
Wood now heads his own company, which provides transport management, corporate governance, environmental solutions and other services.
Japan’s population is shrinking and its birth rate is among the lowest in the world. Despite the outcome of Wood’s case so far, the government has made parental leave a policy priority, allowing absences of up to 12 months. But actual practice hasn’t lived up to the law.
The Tokyo District Court ruled against Wood in 2020, saying it did not find “reasonable grounds” for believing there was harassment. It also criticized Wood for taking his case public instead of quietly resolving the dispute with the company, which has made some changes to its parental leave policies since Wood’s dismissal.
Related listings
-
Accountant avoids prison time in college admissions scandal
Civil Rights 05/14/2022An accountant who worked for the consultant at the center of the college admissions bribery case has avoided prison for his role in the sweeping scheme.U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani on Friday sentenced Steven Masera, 72, to time already se...
-
Wisconsin Supreme Court adopts GOP-drawn legislative maps
Civil Rights 04/17/2022The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday adopted Republican-drawn maps for the state Legislature, handing the GOP a victory just weeks after initially approving maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.The court reversed itself after the U.S. Supreme Co...
-
Appellate court arguments set for Charleston church shooter
Civil Rights 03/29/2021Attorneys for the man sentenced to federal death row for the racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation are set to formally argue that his conviction and death sentence should be overturned.Oral arguments have been set for...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.