After taking parental leave at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, a former brokerage manager filed an appeal, citing on-the-job harassment and illegal dismissal. The Japanese High Court denied the appeal.
Japan (AP) — On Thursday, a Japanese High Court dismissed an appeal from a former brokerage manager who claimed he was unlawfully fired and subjected to on-the-job harassment after taking maternity leave while employed by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley.
The story of Canadian Glen Wood, who has spent more than three decades living in Japan, has come to represent worries about “paternity harassment,” or “data hard.” For Japan, Wood’s is a unique instance of a father requesting parental leave. More often, maternity harassment occurs.
Wood started his battle in 2017, stating that after taking a parental break when his kid was born in 2015, he was harassed and fired from his job.
Wood’s request for parental leave was denied by the employer. The lawsuit claims that despite the employer telling him to just keep working, the father rushed to visit his premature infant.
According to testimony given in court, Wood was demoted and kept out of business meetings when he returned to work in 2016. He was fired by the business in 2018.
The Tokyo High Court dismissed the allegations of harassment in a 21-page decision. The actions of the firm were justified as “inevitable.”
The decision on Thursday, according to Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, demonstrated that the company’s viewpoint had been accepted.
Wood vowed to appeal his case to the Supreme Court, even if it meant that the legal conflict might go on until his son, who is now 6 years old, enrolls in college.
At a press conference held at the ministry of health and labor, he declared that harassment was never an acceptable method of management.
Wood is currently the CEO of his own business, which offers services such as corporate governance, environmental solutions, and transportation management.
Japan’s birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, and the country’s population is declining. Regardless of how Wood’s case has turned out so far, the government has prioritized parental leave as a matter of policy and now permits absences of up to 12 months. But the law hasn’t been followed in practice.
The Tokyo District Court dismissed Wood’s appeal in 2020, stating that there were no “reasonable grounds” to suspect harassment. It also slammed Wood for going public with his issue rather than privately settling it with the business, which has altered its parental leave policies in response to Wood’s firing.
One of Wood’s attorneys, Yoshitatsu Imaizumi, claimed that the case might still be challenged on several grounds, including the fact that Woods was fired after complaining about harassment. He claimed that may potentially violate a worker’s right to report harassment.
Wood said he was not giving up the fight to ensure that men may take parental leave without fear of punishment. Wood has appeared in court and at news conferences with his son.
“I’ve been given a gift in that I get to stand up for parental rights. And I’m delighted to do that—not just for Japan, but for the entire globe,” he declared.
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