Fired Father Loses paternity Leave Appeal in Japan

Fired Father Loses paternity Leave Appeal in Japan

Vocabulary

Brokerage /brəʊkərɪdʒ/
the business of buying and selling stocks, asses, etc. on behalf of others
-He has worked for a brokerage firm in Beijing for over 20 years.

Harass /həˈræs/
to continue to annoy, upset, put pressure on, etc. someone 
-She alleges that coworker has been harassing her in the office.
-She claims to have been harassed on a number of occasions.

Ground /ɡraʊnd/
a basis or reason for something
-Employers must not discriminate on grounds of race, age, or gender.
-The opposition party has been seeking to nullify the election results on the grounds of fraud.

assert /əˈsərt/
to state something with confidence
-Donald Trump has continued to assert that millions of people voted illegally.
-The lawyer asserted that his client was innocent.
-He asserted his right to remain silent.

Allege /əˈlɛdʒ/
to say that something is true, typically without proof
-Lawyers allege that the company hid earnings.
-She alleges that a coworker has been harassing her in the office.
-It is alleged that he took bribes from numerous companies.
-Several employees allege that their managers pressured them to lie on their time sheets to hide overtime work.

prematurely /ˌpriːməˈtʃʊrli/
sooner than planned or expected 
Their child was born prematurely.


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Article

A Japanese court has rejected a request by a former brokerage manager to get his job back after he took paternity leave at Mitubishi UFJ Morgan Staneley.

The case of Glen Wood, a Canadian who has lived in Japan for three decades, has become a symbol of the fight against what is called "paternity harassment", or pata hara.

Working women have long complained about such treatment when they take maternity leave. Wood is among a handful of fathers who have filed cases.

Wood said he would appeal. "This court case is no longer my court case. It's a court case for millions of people out there who have been harassed," he said.

In an 80-page ruling, the court said it did not find "reasonable grounds" for believing there was harassment. it also criticized Wood for asserting harassment , including telling his story to the media, instead of trying to work out the problem with the company.

Wood alleged in a 2017 petition that he was harassed and later forced from his job after taking paternity leave when his son was born in 2015. The company dismissed him in 2018. 

In court, Akihiro Kiyomi, Wood's former boss, and Chiharu Abe, who took over Wood's job at the company, said they reduced his workload after his child was born because they thought he needed to take it easy as a single father. 

But they acknowledged they had not consulted Wood, and appeared not to know that he had hired full-time help.

Wood had applied for paternity leave, but the company refused to give it. Wood's son was born prematurely and so he rushed to see him without receiving permission. When he returned to work in 2016, his responsibilities had been reduced. 

Officially, Japan offers generous parental leave, allowing up to 12 months off. but actual practice frequently doesn't live up to the law.

At the same time, the Japanese government is worried about the country's shrinking population and a birth rate that's among the lowest in the world.