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The law guarantees the right, but the thinking that prevails is that men should just work

Wood’s bosses were extremely reluctant to let him take time off, but after a few days of haggling, he decided he simply had to go.

The baby was in intensive care at a hospital in Nepal, where his partner was working and had given birth.

“It was a time of real panic,” he recalled.

Wood returned to work five months later, in March 2016, after his son recovered and could be safely brought to Japan.

That’s when the harassment started, he says.

Wood was chided for not showing up at meetings he had not been invited to. His job assignment was changed against his will. Wood was told to take a DNA test to prove he was really the boy’s father. He did that.

Three times, he was ordered to take psychiatric tests administered by two company-appointed doctors. Both gave him a clean bill of health and recommended he be allowed to return to work, according to Wood.

“I love my job,” he said.

Wood sued the brokerage in February in Tokyo District Court, seeking his original job back and back pay, including bonuses, which he was denied after October 2017. He was officially dismissed earlier this year.

A ruling is likely to take more than a year.

Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley said in a statement it responded “with sincerity” to Wood’s paternity leave requests. It denied any harassment occurred and declined comment on specifics of the lawsuit.

Generally few Japanese are willing to fight unfair treatment in court out of fear of being considered a troublemaker in this harmony-loving nation, where litigation can be expensive and fruitless. Most lawsuits that are filed are about maternity harassment rather than paternity harassment, making Wood’s case highly unusual, said his lawyer, Yoshitatsu Imaizumi.