Gender identity disorder patient sues Yakult factory over discrimination
(Mainichi Japan)
NAGOYA -- A gender identity disorder (GID) patient filed suit on June 28 against her employer for 3.3 million yen in compensation, claiming she suffered emotional distress after being forced to reveal her GID to her co-workers.
According to the lawsuit filed with the Nagoya District Court, the plaintiff has worked at Yakult Aichi Plant Co. in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, since September 2007. Two years after her mother's death, she decided to live as a woman. She received a diagnosis for GID and in May 2014 received permission from the Nagoya Family Court to change to a female name.
Her appearance changed due to hormone treatment, and she asked her boss for special considerations regarding things such as the use of the changing room, but the factory's management pressured her to reveal her disorder in front of all the employees at her workplace as a prerequisite. She did so and developed adjustment disorder, and later was diagnosed with depression and took time off from work.
She also says that after returning to work, she was mistreated by being relocated to a warehouse away from the other employees and being made to do simple repetitive tasks there.
