Mayumi Shinde, 40, has worked for seven years as a system engineer at a Tokyo firm, at one stage attaining a job capability assessment of S -- one special level higher than A, the normal top ranking.
After taking child-care leave in December 2000, however, Shinde saw her ranking at Data Communication System Co. immediately downgraded to the lowest scale, causing her annual pay to drop by 1 million yen.
The firm also said she is not entitled to take a corporate exam for promotion from team chief to group chief, even though the board member in charge of her section advised her to take the test and her immediate boss guaranteed she would pass.