Court recognizes Toyota employee's death as work-related suicide

The Nagoya District Court on June 18 concluded that long and intense work was the cause of depression that led to the suicide of a former employee of Toyota Motor Corp. The court ordered the Toyota Labor Standards Inspection Office to revoke its judgment that his death was not work-related.

The employee, as a car designer, worked many extra hours without pay at the office and even at home, and he was working on two models simultaneously. When his office was closed due to summer vacation, he worked at home. He was worried that he was behind schedule and complained to his wife that he couldn't continue to work for Toyota any longer. On the next morning of August 26, 1988 he killed himself.

The court said that the intensity of a job should be determined by working conditions of employees who are most vulnerable both physically and mentally, and that not only working hours but also labor intensity should be taken into consideration.

The court judgment recognized the causal relationship between the excessive and intense work and the outbreak of depression which led to his suicide. (end)