[APWSLMembers 633] Japanese court says Toyota employee died of
overwork
Oidon
ttn8idv2dc at mx4.ttcn.ne.jp
Fri Nov 30 21:49:02 JST 2007
Japanese court says Toyota employee died of overwork
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_182052.html
TOKYO - A JAPANESE court on Friday ruled that a Toyota employee died of overwork
after putting in more than 100 hours of overtime in one month, ordering the
government to pay benefits to his widow, a court official said.
The Nagoya District Court ruled that Kenichi Uchino had worked some 106 hours of
overtime in the month before he died after collapsing at a Toyota Motor plant in
February 2002 aged just 30.
His wife argued that long working hours caused her husband to develop an
abnormal heart rhythm, but her application for bereaved family benefits was
rejected by the labour ministry, which said the death was not due to overwork.
A local labour standards inspection office, part of the ministry, estimated Mr
Uchino's overtime during the month before his death was about 45 hours.
But the court rejected the figure and upheld his wife's claim for benefits,
ordering a local labour standards office to retract its decision, a court
spokesman said.
Presiding Judge Toshiro Tamiya said Mr Uchino 'was so tired that he could not
play with his children,' Kyodo News reported.
Officials at the labour office declined to comment, saying they had yet to
officially hear of the verdict.
Toyota Motor also declined to comment on the ruling, saying that the dispute was
between the former employee and the government.
The growing auto giant offered its 'deepest sympathies' for the death and vowed
to make greater efforts to help employees stay in good health.
Death from overwork became such a common phenomenon as Japan built from the
ashes of World War II into the world's second largest economy that it has its
own word, 'karoshi'.
Critics say the problem is again worsening as Japan's economy recovers from
recession, with pressure growing on workers to put in long hours and job
security declining. -- AFP
More information about the APWSLMembers
mailing list