Korean Man’s Widow Sues Firm
The widow of a Korean American who killed himself after alleging workplace discrimination by his Japanese bosses asked a federal court Thursday to permit her to pursue a wrongful-death action against the dead man’s former employer.
Junko Lee’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, accuses Nippon Express USA Inc., a worldwide shipping company, of discriminating against her husband, Myung-Sub “Mike” Lee, because he was Korean.
The document also responds to a lawsuit filed by the company. After receiving a letter from the widow announcing her intention to sue, Nippon Express took Junko Lee and her two children to court March 30 to prevent them from pursuing the action. The firm said the family’s right to sue was waived when Mike Lee settled his grievance with the company three days before he took his life last fall.
In his diary and in complaints to Nippon Express, he described numerous alleged incidents of harassment by supervisors who complained about the smell of Korean food and his accent, and made disparaging comments about Koreans and his wife.
Junko Lee says the settlement document her husband signed is invalid because he was mentally incompetent at the time. He had checked into Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for psychiatric treatment a week before signing the agreement, the suit said.
Edward Temple, senior counsel for Nippon Express, called Junko Lee’s action “baseless and not justified by law, common sense or any other rational standard.” He accused her supporters of “attempting to punish this company for the historic sins of the Japanese government against the Korean people.”
The Committee for Justice for M.S. Lee announced the suit at a news conference at a Japanese American church in Little Tokyo. The committee, representing a broad spectrum of Asian American organizations, is demanding an apology from Nippon Express, punishment of Lee’s superiors and financial compensation.
“As Japanese Americans, we understand the cultural tensions involved in this particular issue,” said the Rev. Grant Hagiya, senior pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church. “As Japanese Americans, we are in solidarity with our Korean American brothers and sisters, especially for the family.”
In its lawsuit, Nippon Express said Mike Lee twice told John Gibbons, the company’s human resources manager, that he wanted to kill his supervisors for harassing him. The suit also said Mike Lee told Gibbons that “his life was over” and that he named the six supervisors he wanted to kill.
The alleged threats led to police arresting Lee.
When Lee took his life in his Torrance home Oct. 29, he was unemployed and faced mounting legal fees, as well as criminal prosecution for making terrorist threats. The widow’s suit said he owned no gun and had no history of making threats.
Junko Lee, a Japanese American, vowed to fight the company. “This cannot happen again,” she said. “When I look into the eyes of my children, I must be able to tell both of them that I did everything I could to make this right.”
