The men also allege their employers cut their pay after they took time off from work to care for their newborns as legally allowed in Japan, a country that touts one of the top paternity leave policies globally. But, the two men say the reality is far different and are engaged in a legal fight, in part, to bring attention to the fact that only about 6% of men do take such leave because they are afraid of repercussions from their employers.

Japan and South Korea lead all of the world’s richest nations with laws specifically giving fathers the most time off from work to care for their children, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development notes. The one year of paid leave for Japanese fathers is the same for new mothers, but for the few men who do take advantage, most take less than 14 days off.

One of the men, Glen Wood, is a Canadian who was a managing director for global sales for investment bank Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. His first public hearing took place October 9, 2019 in Tokyo, the Associated Press reports. Wood alleges he was demoted and later fired for taking paternity leave. The company claims it has done nothing wrong and will defend against the suit.

“This is about harassing people for trying to spend time with their family and forcing men to marry their companies instead of their family,” Wood says. “We need to assure that there’s work-life balance so that children can spend time with their parent and parents can spend time with their children. That has to be recognized as a universal human right.”

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