The Nagasaki Prefectural Government said Tuesday it will not appeal a court ruling ordering it to compensate an American woman for sexual harassment while she was an assistant language teacher at a high school in the prefecture.
The prefectural government decided to comply with the Nagasaki District Court's decision last month to award Hannah Martin ¥500,000 ($3,800) in damages since the court recognized that prefectural authorities had acted appropriately once the incidents came to light.
Martin, who is in her 20s, said she suffered mental anguish due to sexual harassment by a vice principal and an assistant language teacher in separate incidents in 2016 and 2018. She has also decided not to appeal, her lawyer said Tuesday, which was the deadline for filing a challenge to the ruling.
The court ruled that while the prefecture had violated its duty to take measures to prevent sexual harassment before the incidents, it did take action after the incidents came to light.
Following the court ruling, the prefecture said it will distribute prevention guidelines against sexual harassment translated into various languages and take other steps.
Martin had sought ¥2 million in damages from the prefectural government.
"We are extremely sorry that the woman suffered great emotional anguish," a prefectural official said.
According to the ruling, the male assistant teacher at another high school held Martin by her shoulders and kissed her neck in 2018 at a school-related event. He was subsequently admonished by his principal.
The court also recognized that the then-vice principal of a prefectural high school where she worked made sexual remarks to her at a party held after a school festival in 2016.
But it deemed the prefecture fulfilled its obligations to take steps over the incidents after the vice principal apologized.