Mental Illness Caused by Being Outed as LGBT Ruled Work-Related in Japan

From Jiji

July 25 2023

TOKYO – Japanese labor authorities have ruled that a man developed mental illness because his sexual orientation was revealed by his boss without consent, recognizing it as a work-related condition eligible for workers’ compensation insurance benefits. 

The man in his 20s won the judgment from the labor standards inspection office in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district March 18, he told a press conference Monday.

His case is the first in Japan in which a disease caused by outing, or revealing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without the person’s consent, was recognized as work-related, according to a group of his supporters.

The man started working at an insurance agency in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward in May 2019.

About a month later, his boss revealed his sexual orientation to a part-time worker, allegedly saying that “it won’t hurt to tell it to just one person.”