Chiba civil engineering company pays former employee settlement over “insufficient understanding of developmental disorders”

Extract from The Mainichi Shimbun

February 1 2025

Abiko, Chiba Pref – A lawsuit filed by a man in his 30s from Chiba Prefecture against his former civil engineering company in Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture for damages, alleging that he was discriminated against and forced to resign from the civil engineering company where he was employed as a disabled person through Hello Work because the company did not take his developmental disability into consideration, has been settled in the Chiba District Court. 

The former employer will pay the man approximately 300,000 yen in settlement money. According to the man’s attorney, the settlement was reached in October last year. The settlement terms stated that the former employer apologized to the man for not fully understanding the characteristics of his developmental disability and would pay him the settlement money. 

 The man joined the company in September 2020 after informing the company that he has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He claims that the employer did not make sufficient reasonable consideration in explaining the characteristics of his disability to those around him when working with employees of other subcontractors on-site. He also claimed that he was discriminated against, such as not being able to complete the health insurance enrollment procedures for about six months, and resigned in January 2023.