Death from overwork recognized as work-related for the first time under discretionary work system

The Central Labor Standards Inspection Office(CLSIO) has canceled its previous decision and recognized the death of a former employee of Kobunsha, a publishing house in Tokyo, as work-related.

Tatsu Wakiyama was 24 years old when he died apparently from overwork.

On January 15, the CLSIO informed Yamawaki's parents that the Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance should be applied for him.

It is the first time that a worker's death has been recognized as a death from overwork under the discretionary work system which was introduced in 1998.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor in December 2001 issued a directive to local labor standards inspection offices. It said that whether a worker's death is from overtime or not should be determined after an examination of the worker's working conditions not just before his/her death but for a longer period of time.

The former Kobunsha employee's timecard showed that he had worked on average more than 80 hours overtime each month in the six months before he died, frequently working past midnight. (end)