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When Glen Wood told his Japanese bosses he intended to take paternity leave to look after his newborn son, the Canadian financial analyst said he was treated “like I had committed some sort of crime.”

The 47-year-old single father and former manager of global sales at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo alleges he was harassed to the point of mental and physical collapse after he exercised his right to a leave when his son Alexander was born two years ago.

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His lawyers have filed a temporary injunction against the Japanese brokerage and have asked a Tokyo court to order the firm reinstate him to full employee status. The company said it encourages its employees to take parental leave. But Wood said he’s a victim of what is known in Japan as patahara — paternity harassment.

Wood said he was incrementally demoted before he was put on unpaid leave in October after rejecting what he said amounted to a low-level clerical position and a more than 50 per cent pay cut.