TOKYO: A Canadian father who alleges that he was bullied and fired by his Japanese employer after he tried to claim paternity leave appeared in a Tokyo court yesterday to pursue his lawsuit.
It is the second paternity leave harassment case to be heard in Japan in recent weeks, casting a spotlight on the issue in a country struggling with one of the world's lowest birth rates. Mr Glen Wood, 49, a resident of Japan for three decades, was working at brokerage house Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities when his son was born prematurely in October 2015. Mr Wood said he applied for paternity leave before his son was born in Nepal, where his partner was working, seeking to exercise a right guaranteed by Japanese law.
But, he said, the company dragged its feet, and he even submitted a DNA test to prove his relation to his son. "I knew it was a sort of old-fashioned thinking type of company but I was still surprised, even when it was an emergency and my son was in the ICU , that it wouldn't let me take paternity leave," he told AFPyesterday."I think it was viewed really as an act of treason for a man to take paternity leave," he added.