A Frenchwoman dismissed by NHK filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the public broadcaster, claiming her radio announcer contract was unjustly terminated after she temporarily fled Japan at the start of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011.
Emmanuelle Bodin, who had worked for NHK more than two decades, said she received permission from a superior to leave Japan with her two daughters on March 15, 2011, following an instruction by the French government for French nationals to evacuate.
Bodin told NHK that she would be back by March 30, 2011, but was notified by a letter dated March 22, 2011, that the broadcaster was terminating her yearly contract, saying she "walked off" her job.