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Nintendo Japan Gives Same-Sex Partners Same Employee Benefits As Heterosexual Married Couples

DenFamiNicoGamer reported on Wednesday that Nintendo Japan updated its Corporate Social Responsibility page to introduce a "Partnership System" addressing the rights of people in same-sex relationships at the company. According to this policy, employees with same-sex partnerships and common-law marriages will enjoy the same benefits as those who are legally married.

Nintendo's English website posted a translation as follows:

At Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japan), we want to create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees.

We introduced the Partnership System in March 2021 as one initiative based on this philosophy. Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognized under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage. We have also established that a common-law marriage between couples will be observed in the same way as a legal marriage.

In the Code of Conduct for our employees, we had already established that “we do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, nationality, ideology, religion, creed, origin, social status, class, occupation, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity,” prohibiting all forms of discrimination. In addition to introducing the Partnership System, we revised our internal regulations regarding harassment to clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someone's privately held sexual orientation against their will.

Alongside the introduction of the Partnership System in Japan, we notified our employees about the issue of gender diversity with a message from our President as a means of raising awareness of what diversity means. In this message, the President called for all employees to adopt a renewed understanding that even speech and actions, which are not intended to harm, can cause significant emotional pain, asking for understanding and support to create an environment in which everyone can work comfortably.

By improving our company systems and conducting training, we will continue our work to create an environment where each of our many diverse employees can fully realize their talents.

Same-sex marriage in Japan is currently not legally recognized. In 2015, Tokyo's Shibuya Ward introduced a partnership system, which extended certain legal privileges of married couples to same-sex couples. Since then, a number of cities have adopted similar systems. Private companies are not obliged to participate.

Source: DenFamiNicoGamer via Livedoor News