A labor standard office in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, has recognized the death of a 38-year-old employee of a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corp in January 2017 as being due to overwork.
The man returned home after 11 p.m. on Jan 23, 2017, took a bath, ate dinner and went to bed. His wife reported that he let out a groan and died soon afterward. The cause of death was later revealed to be a heart attack, Fuji TV reported.
He left behind a wife and three children. The family has filed a claim for compensation, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The labor standards office issued a worker’s compensation certificate after ruling his death was due to overwork, or karoshi as it’s known in Japan.
According to the lawyer, the now-deceased worker was in charge of plant equipment maintenance at Renesas Semiconductor Package & Test Solution Co and had to respond to mechanical troubles both late at night during the week and on weekends. During the four months before his death, his workload exceeded an average of 80 hours per month. Furthermore, the labor office revealed that he had worked 25 hours of overtime in the week before his passing.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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Aly Rustom
Same old same old. Bow, apologize, and bow again. Bob's your uncle.
That's the saddest part of all
How can you compensate for a lost husband and a father of 3??
Personally, I'm going to do my best to avoid Renesas Electronics products.
kawabegawa198
Good luck with that. You know how many IC chips they make in a year?!
smithinjapan
And? Who’s going to be charged? The family going to get a whopping $10,000? Ah, but the biggest question... he exceeded 80 hours overtime, but did he exceed the government capped, but not enforced, 100-hour monthly overtime “limit”?
Disillusioned
Don't blame one company! Blame the whole business culture. These companies should be facing more serious charges for abusing the overtime limit, especially when it causes death. Yeah, if proven, the company will be forced to pay compensation and will get a smack across the knuckles. I don't know of any other country that has an extensive and publicly accessible list of 'black companies' who regularly and purposely breach the labor laws. Why are these companies still in operation? They should be closed and the persons responsible should be in jail! I also don't know of any other culture that has created a word for 'death from overwork' - ( karoshi ). Is that something to be proud of? However, the government is no better. They set a limit of 80 hours per month of overtime work. That is the equivalent of doing an extra three weeks work every month. That is insane! Actually, it's criminally insane!
Fendy
Unfortunately, it’s a part of the work culture. No one is forced to work overtime to that extent, but Japanese people easily oblige to this kind of obligatory conformity. Too much, as shown here, is not healthy.
Steven Fennel
This could have happened to any company. This particular one isn't at fault more than any other one in this country.
This man, may he Rest In Peace, CHOSE to do all of this overtime; no one forced him to. This unhealthy work ethic is inbred into the Japanese work culture and, I would suspect, Japanese psyche in general.
He worked himself to death and nobody stopped him
oldman_13
You know, there's a thing called freedom of choice. No one forced him or others to keep working to death. Work and life balance, remember? I feel bad for his family but there comes a time you take responsibility for getting away from a bad situation.
Nippori Nick
I am old enough to remember the columnist Ann Landers. One of her quotes has stayed with me.
No one can take advantage of you without your permission.
Ah_so
Doesn't mean she was correct.
Aly Rustom
I don't care. Its a personal choice.
And the government for not taking more concrete action..
Kiera Hohne
Work overtime to get noticed by senpai. Senpai in reality does not care if you die. It's Japanese work culture and by the sounds of it, someone else can do the dead mans job. However, he does leave behind and family and I feel sory for them. My he rest in peace where he does not have to work overtime and enjoy the afterlife.
PerformingMonkey
These articles never include a medical explanation of how overwork leads to death.
Magnus Roe
There usually isn't one, suicides also get recognized as death by overwork.
I agree with what some others are saying that you can't be and aren't actually forced to put in these hours, but the peer pressure is rather strong and refusing will probably end your career progression, and that's a huge deal. It's not certain the family will be understanding if you decide to jump off the rat race train, changing work places often looks bad on your resume and starting your own business is often seen as rash and irresponsible.
viking68
Anyone know what kind of damages could be expected in a wrongful death suit in Japan?
In the U.S., you would look at life long earning potential, pain and suffering, and maybe punitive damages, which could be huge in order to punish the company.
mrtinjp
You know, there's a thing called freedom of choice. No one forced him or others to keep working to death. Work and life balance, remember?
Welcome to Japan..No such thing in the Japanese work culture.
mrtinjp
These articles never include a medical explanation of how overwork leads to death.
Well..why not try it yourself, work for 15+ hrs daily..within the month you will see the difference..
Speed
The J-government's response will be the Japanese version of, "Thoughts and prayers to this poor individual." Although there won't be a big thank you to "first responders" because there is no response.
Slickdrifter
Nice work life balance they say in Japan. Yeah right. Three children growing up without the Father now. Shame on you Renesas Semiconductor. I know this mans pain. Did 72 hours recently because I wanted to take a few days off and had to make it up. If I say no I am docked or canned. All about the money. Anyways, I am headed back to Cali soon anyways. Over twenty years in Nihon is enough. I have had enough.