Sexual Harrassment for Job-Seekers

[Mulboyne]

Sex harassment plagues labor offices

Inappropriate acts occurred at 40 prefectural labor bureaus over a 2-year period. Disciplinary action in nearly 100 cases was taken against labor ministry officials for acts of sexual harassment against job seekers, visitors and colleagues at prefectural labor bureaus...sexual harassment was particularly rampant at offices in Kyoto...An official there visited potential job sites with a female job seeker. After they completed the round of company visits, the official asked the woman to accompany him to a hotel, where they could be by themselves. At another public employment-security office in Kyoto, a man in 2003 rang the cellphone number that a woman had written on her application form and asked her out to karaoke. An investigation found the official had called two other women and invited them to karaoke parlors.
...An instance of sexual harassment in the Tokyo prefectural labor bureau occurred in 2001 at a labor standard inspection office. A woman who had come to the office to fill out documents was called out to a nearby coffee shop by an official. The man touched the woman's cheeks with his finger and asked her for a date. The official later called the woman on her cellphone from his desk.
...an official was caught secretly videotaping a woman while she was changing in the dressing room of the inspection-office building. The woman worked at an affiliated agency.
...In Fukuoka, an official went overboard at a 2002 office party. The man, drunk and half-naked, groped female employees and chased them around the party site. He received a warning.