Gay man to receive compensation after being outed by boss

Labor authorities awarded employment compensation to a Japanese gay man, who faced mental health problems after being outed by his boss without his consent.

The Japan Times reported on July 25 that the Ikebukuro labor standards monitoring office found that his boss' move was a misuse of authority that caused the LGBTQ+ member serious psychological suffering. 

The man got on board with an insurance company in 2019, according to Posse, a non-profit group tackling labor issues in Japan. During his job interview, he opened up about his sexual orientation to his manager after listing his same-sex partner as his emergency contact.

While he noted that he wanted to let his coworkers know that he's gay when the timing is right, his superior immediately let it slip to a female employee without his consent. The Japanese man went into total panic upon knowing what happened and suffered mental issues in the coming months.

“I thought you would be too embarrassed to tell others yourself. It’s okay if it’s just one person, right?” his boss allegedly told him.

The queer worker quit his job in October 2020, after the company acknowledged that the manager's move was wrong. They also apologized to him in the same month.

Posse said this could be the first instance in Japan where compensation was awarded to someone who was involuntarily outed in the workplace.

At a news conference in Tokyo on July 24, the man said: “I couldn’t trust anybody anymore (after being outed). I had to come forward to make it right.”