Konami Employee Fights Discrimination

[Logan Westbrook]

Konami Employee Fights Discrimination

A Konami employee is suing the company after accusing them of demoting her following her return from maternity leave.

36 year old Yoko Sekiguchi is suing her employer Konami over alleged sexual discrimination following her return from maternity leave. Sekiguchi is seeking $343,000 in damages after the company changed her job from an international role to a domestic one, which carried with it a drop of more than $2000 a month in salary.

According to Ms. Sekiguchi's lawyers, Konami stated in in-trail meetings that her position at the company had been changed in consideration of creating a better environment for raising a child. Ms. Sekiguchi was obviosuly less that pleased by Konami's ostensibly altruistic move saying, "Being forced to lessen your career to raise a child is sexual discrimination."

This seems quite clear cut to me, but the law can be a tricky beast, and discrimination cases even more so. We'll just have to wait and see where this goes.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/19/konami-employee-sues-for-sexual-discrimination/]


Permalink

 

[Booze Zombie]

Hey, nobody likes losing money, no matter the reason.

 

[mikecoulter]

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

 

[Lonko]

She would've sued them even if they demoted her with a more reasonable explanation, because that's how it works.

That may be so, but is irrelevant in this case, because they didn't even offer such an explanation. They've quite plainly stated that this was done because of her child.

I'm with Max on this one.

 

[Undeadpope]

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

My thumbs up for making me laugh rather hard.
*thumbs up*

 

[Lonko]

She would've sued them even if they demoted her with a more reasonable explanation, because that's how it works.

That may be so, but is irrelevant in this case, because they didn't even offer such an explanation. They've quite plainly stated that this was done because of her child.

I'm with Max on this one.

I know that, I am aswell, but I still think she would've sued them even if she would get a "better" reason.

I'm sure you did. My point is just that since she didn't get a "better" reason, speculation such as this is moot, that's all.

 

[mikecoulter]

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

My thumbs up for making me laugh rather hard.
*thumbs up*

Yay. Cookie time.

 

[mistwolf]

Well it just makes me mad when i hear something like this,i mean ok if you have been wronged,or discriminated,but lately any woman that gets fired/demoted even if its her own fault,claims sexual discrimination to get what she wants. I mean if she really felt discriminated she would want her old job back but she wants 350 000$ (ish) which is greedy and idiotic. What kind of a society is it where people can sue a successful company for tens of millions of dollars for something trivial or silly.

She won't have a job with the company at the end of this; it will never be a safe environment for her again. And I don't think this is at all silly or trivial, either, it's a blatant slap in the face. I hope she wins, and decisively.

 

[yeah_so_no]

This is in Japan? *wince* Oh, good luck. Seriously, the antidiscrimination laws here have no teeth. Plus, it's still pretty much expected that when a woman has a baby, she quits her job and stays home. Heck, a lot of companies expect that to happen as soon as a women gets married, and will actually start pressuring her to do so.

I'm really, really glad she's fighting back against this. I would say I don't think she has much chance because it's Japan (where recently a politician said that housewives who didn't have children shouldn't get anything out of the pension system because they hadn't contributed to Japanese society [but women who had children had contributed a child, so hey], but recently the courts have been getting more progressive, sort of--they did punish Toyoto for a manager who worked so much overtime he died from a heart attack at age 32.

And also, reading a lot of these comments...yeah, y'all need to work on that "instant dismissal of anything that seems 'feminist'" thing. Yeesh.

ETA - I just read the original Japanese page, and oh, man. They said "If you do the job you had been doing until now, it will be detrimental to [your] health and to child-rearing." She's saying it's a penalty for taking maternity leave, which is against Japanese labor laws and the Japanese Constitution.

 

[lornb]

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

Thanks for my morning laugh

 

[mikecoulter]

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

Thanks for my morning laugh

It was my pleasure

 

[Knight Templar]

Seems they should have asked, but since they are so being nice can't they just give back her old job?

This is just plain odd.

She should go up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,start on their asses.

Wouldn't that just give her extra lives?

 

[Rigs83]

Well it just makes me mad when i hear something like this,i mean ok if you have been wronged,or discriminated,but lately any woman that gets fired/demoted even if its her own fault,claims sexual discrimination to get what she wants. I mean if she really felt discriminated she would want her old job back but she wants 350 000$ (ish) which is greedy and idiotic. What kind of a society is it where people can sue a successful company for tens of millions of dollars for something trivial or silly.

You always aim high and hope for a reasonable settlement. That's just common practice for any lawsuit and would be what a decent lawyer would do. I don't think you should be so quick to jump on someone for asking for a high sum because it is there lawyer that is doing the talking not necessarily them. What drives me nuts in the US is the insane juror awards people get, $100,000 for spilling coffee on yourself is only encouraging stupidity. That's also why warning labels are getting ridiculous, check this site:
http://www.rinkworks.com/said/warnings.shtml
As for the lady in Japan, she is facing an uphill battle and will need all he luck she can get because Japanese courts are not known for their sympathy to women' rights issues.