Ex-MUFG Banker Invokes Human Rights in Paternity Leave Case

(Bloomberg) -- A Canadian banker who claims he was harassed and later fired by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. for taking paternity leave appeared in a Tokyo court Wednesday to argue his case.

Glen Wood, who is suing the brokerage, alleges the Tokyo-based venture between Japan’s biggest bank and the U.S. securities giant treated him unfairly after he took time off to care for his newborn son. The firm contests his claim.

“I hope a judgment will be made that respects basic human rights,” Wood told the court.

The case has highlighted a disconnect between Japan’s generous laws governing paternity leave -- fathers can take as long as a year off -- and a work culture that means few men actually take it.

Wood, a single parent whose son was born in October 2015, claims that his requests to take paternity leave were rejected until December of that year after he took a DNA test to prove he was the father. When he returned to work the following March, Wood says he was excluded from his responsibilities and demoted.

The firm, majority-owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., later suspended him without pay before dismissing him last year after he took legal action and spoke publicly about his case.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Nakamichi in Tokyo at tnakamichi1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.