By TAKASHI ENDO/ Staff Writer
July 11, 2023 at 17:16 JST
The Supreme Court building (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The economy ministry's ban on a transgender employee from using the women's bathroom on her floor was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled on July 11.
The court’s Third Petty Bench overturned a May 2021 Tokyo High Court ruling that found nothing wrong with the bathroom restriction.
The ruling said the decision of the National Personnel Authority, which oversees civil servants, to not comply with the ministry employee’s request was illegal.
The plaintiff is an economy ministry employee in her 50s who is registered as a male on her family registry but lives as a female.
She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in around 1999, and she later informed the ministry about her condition.
Due to health reasons, she has not undergone sex-reassignment surgery.
Since 2010, she has come to work in women’s clothing.
The ministry instructed the plaintiff to use the women’s bathroom two floors or farther from where she works.
The plaintiff filed the lawsuit after the NPA refused to go along with her request to use the women’s bathroom on her own office floor.
The Supreme Court also upheld the Tokyo High Court’s ruling that the central government had to pay compensation of 110,000 yen ($780) for the psychological duress the woman experienced.
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