labor

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Staffing agency pays workers 5.3 billion yen in unpaid overtime wages

Japan's major staffing agency, Staff Service Co., Ltd., paid about 3,400 current and retired workers 5.365 billion yen in back pay for their overtime work that had been done in the last two years.

This was announced by the company's Osaka headquarters president, Okamoto Hidenori, at a press conference on June 23.

Okamoto said that Staff Service accepted responsibility for the suicide of an Osaka office assistant manager who had been suffering from depression due to an excessive workload. The company reached a settlement with his family and agreed to pay them compensation and unpaid wages.

The assistant manager killed himself in December 2003 at the age of 32.

The bereaved family filed a complaint with the Osaka Labor Bureau last year, claiming that the company forced the assistant manager to work without pay longer than the working hours set, in the labor agreement, in violation of the Labor Standards Law. - Akahata, June 24, 2005