Harassment Consulting Center NewsVol.19 (July 2016)

Maternity harassment (matahara) means inappropriate/unfair deal such as dismissal, transfer, salary cut, anddemotion on the grounds of pregnancy, childbirth, or taking maternity/childcare leave. There are some legal
systems related to maternity: “Law for Equal Employment Opportunity of Men and Women”, “LaborStandards Law”, “Child Care and Family Care Leave Law”, etc. They prohibit matahara. For example, “LaborStandards Law” provides “If a woman who is giving birth within 6 weeks requests leave from work, theemployer shall not make her work”, “Employers shall not have a woman work within 8 weeks afterchildbirth”, “Employers shall not dismiss any woman within 30 days after work-leave”, “If a pregnant woman
requests so, the employer shall transfer her to other light activities”, etc.
In 2015, there were 4,269 cases of matahara consultation to prefectural labor departments, which was larger
by 19% compared to the previous year and the largest number ever (ref. Nihon KeizaiShimbun electronicversion).
According to the 2015 survey by a NPO “matahara net”, while the most common harasser was male boss(30.1%), the second was female boss (12.5%) and the third was female colleague/staff (10.3%). Thus womenoften become harassers, which is characteristic of matahara. The victims of matahara wish that the importanceof women resources, knowledge of the related laws, and current situation of childcare are well informed
among the business managers.
＊The term “maternity harassment” was first used in English media to report the situation in Japan. The term“pregnancy discrimination” is used in USA.
「Four categories of maternity harassment」

IndividualInstitutional

Impose traditional gender-based values

Bullying by words or ignoring“Child is your priority”“I am saying so because I am worrying about yourhealth”“You cause inconvenience”“I am so envious that you can take days off”
“You are selfish”

Power harassment (enforcement of working long hours)

Forced out (dismissal, transfer, demotion, etc.)“We do not need permanent employees who leave theoffice early”“Pregnancy is not a disease”“You have to resign when you have a baby”“My company does not have enough resources tokeep pregnant employees”＊from “matahara net”

An example of matarara lawsuit
In a matahara suit filed by a woman physical therapist in Hiroshima who was demoted due to pregnancy and resigned, in October
23th 2014, the Supreme Court judged that “demotion due to pregnancy is prohibited in principle” and remanded the case. At theappeal hearing, in August 27th 2015, the high court in Hiroshima ordered the hospital side to pay 1,750,000 yen compensation
which included the sum of sub-chief allowance between demotion and resignation in 2011 (except maternity/childcare leave) andthe consolation money for mental distress by saying “Her pride as a professional was hurt and isolation due to demotion and frictionin the office caused the resignation.”

Harassment Consultation Center receives
complaints related to matahara.

Nagoya University Harassment Consultation Center
Tel: 052-789-58062nd floor, Engineering Building 7-B Opening hours: Monday~Friday (excluding holidays) 9:00~17:00
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