Court rules employee worked to death

Court rules employee worked to death

Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:18pm


TOKYO (Reuters) - A Toyota Motor Corp employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled Friday, reversing a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.


The Toyota Labor Standards Inspection office, a local branch of Japan's labor ministry, refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported.
But the court ruled that the employee had worked far more than that, said Yomiuri Online, a Japanese news website. The Nagoya District Court in central Japan said the ruling overturned the labor ministry's decision.
"We want to think of how to respond to this ruling by discussing it with relevant agencies," an official at the Toyota Labor Standards Inspection Office told Reuters.
The employee, who was working at a Toyota factory in central Japan, died of irregular heartbeat in February 2002 after passing out in the factory around 4 a.m.
"(The employee) worked for extremely long hours and the relationship between his work and death is strong," Yomiuri Online quoted Judge Toshiro Tamiya as saying.
Overworking is a serious issue in Japan, where an average worker uses less than 50 percent of paid holidays, according to government data.
In fiscal year 2005-2006, the labor ministry received 315 requests for compensation from the bereaved families of workers who died of strokes and other illnesses seen as work-related.
Toyota said in a statement it would further improve the management of its employees' health.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

So true! My sister works for a Japanese Accounting Firm and she is totally overworked! She has like 300 hours of vaca, sick, and holiday time that she hasn't used. Mainly because her stupid co-office manager is a bee-otch and gives her a hard time whenever she asks for time off! They recently went through a move and her boss kept putting more and more work on her. He didn't like the estimate that the moving co. gave for packing up all their papers out of the filing cabinets so he just told them they would do it themselves. Well, guess who got stuck with that extra work?! One night recently, my sis didn't get home until 10:30! They're supposed to be off at 5:30...and she's salaried so she gets NO overtime! I said F-That! You need to find a new job! So she's looking now!

Salary is the biggest con in the history of the world.

So true, and sad! I should be salaried, but I'm not and I am giddy about it! I get sooooo much overtime it's ridiculous!! The Doctor I work for thinks he's still 25 and FAST...but sadly he's super slow now. The only downer is we work through lunch quite frequently...but as long as I have snacks, I'm ok since I'm getting time anda half!!!! Whoo-Hoo!

Sounds like the norm. Taiwan is quite similar to Japan as far as work ethic and working hours goes. I'm supposed to work from 9 until 6, which is typical. I leave ontime every day, but nobody else in the company does. Some don't finish until about 8 or 9 on an average day, and many work until midnight or later quite often.

Do you think they get paid overtime? No way, Jose. Most people have the mentality of a slave. No shackles, granted, but it feels like slavery none-the-less.

I think Toyota's reaction to this is the most appauling part of it. I guess the Japanese branch (headquaters?) of the company doesn't realize how the rest of the world will see this. I hope it affects sales, to be honest.

I'm salaried, but I show up ten minutes late and leave ten minutes early pretty much every day. And I nap on my lunch breaks.

I've also learned how to make something that should take 20 minutes take all morning.

Work can be slow sometimes....

I like your style Dekka!