Woods bosses were extremely reluctant to let him take time off, but after a few days of haggling, he decided he simply had to go. "But to be negative, one can also say things havent changed all that much.Wood returned to work five months later, in March 2016, after his son recovered and could be safely brought to Japan. Both gave him a clean bill of portable saw mill Suppliers health and recommended he be allowed to return to work, according to Wood." And taking time off for childbirth is not as culturally accepted in Japan as in Europe, where it is commonplace, or even in the U. His job assignment was changed against his will."There are no criminal penalties for companies that dont comply with maternity or paternity leave standards. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has championed such policies, saying theyre needed to prevent the countrys shrinking population from freefalling by better balancing work and family life. Some states and many companies provide such benefits. The most the government will do is put a company on a "blacklist.Thats when the harassment started, he says.Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley said in a statement it responded "with sincerity" to Woods paternity leave requests.

  According to the labor ministry, only 3 percent of eligible men - compared with more than 80 percent of working women - take advantage of Japans parental leave system, which does not differentiate between men and women when it comes to childbirth and child-care leave."To take a positive note, one can say things are better - compared to 30 years ago," she said. "That kind of old-fashioned thinking is deeply rooted. He did that.S., a consultant for companies on gender diversity, says harassment training is on the rise at Japanese companies, but dramatic improvement results only if peoples basic consciousness changes, not merely by putting such systems in place. It denied any harassment occurred and declined comment on specifics of the lawsuit.Japans parental leave system is relatively generous by international standards - at least, on paper. He was officially dismissed earlier this year."It was a time of real panic," he recalled. "What they did is wrong.Wood, 48, a Canadian who has lived in Japan for 30 years, thought he wasnt asking too much of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, just a small part of what the law guarantees: up to 12 months of paid maternity or paternity leave and your job back., where loyalty to the company nearly always comes before family and taking time off can be a liability."