 NTT ordered to pay compensation for trainee's sudden death The Sapporo District Court on March 9 ordered NTT East Corporation to pay 6.6 million yen in compensation for an employee's sudden death during training. In 2002, Okumura Yoshikatsu, then 58, refused to change company affiliation when NTT carried out a corporate restructuring scheme that affected 100,000 workers. Okumura's job category had to change and he was ordered to be trained for two months in Tokyo and Sapporo. On his temporary return home on June 9, 2002, he died of heart failure. He had a chronic disease in the heart and NTT's medical checkups said that he should not work overtime or make overnight business trips. Okumura's family filed a civil lawsuit against NTT for neglecting its safety standards and causing Okumura's death from overwork. They demanded a payment of 72 million yen in damages. The presiding judge recognized the causal relationship between business and death, and found the company at fault in neglecting to observe safety regulations. The plaintiffs' lawyers said that the ruling was satisfactory. (end) |