A court ruled Wednesday that the Osaka municipal office's 2012 investigation into whether its workers had tattoos was illegal for privacy reasons and invalidated its punishment of a plaintiff who refused to submit a required document.
In a lawsuit filed by Tadasu Yasuda, a 56-year-old worker in the municipal government's transportation division, the Osaka District Court also invalidated his transfer to a different job after the court action and ordered the city to pay him ¥1.1 million in compensation.
"Whether people have a tattoo or not falls into the category of information carrying a risk of causing discrimination, collection of which is prohibited under a city ordinance for the protection of privacy," presiding Judge Kenji Nakagaito said in ruling the investigation illegal.