January 13, 2025

The world’s largest car maker, Toyota Motor Corporation, presses its workers not to use workers compensation insurance to receive medical treatment for work-related injuries and illnesses, Akahata reported on January 13.

A worker in his 40s who works at a Toyota factory in Aichi’s Toyota City strained knee ligaments while working around a decade ago. His job was to move seven connected 200-kilogram carts with boxes of parts around the plant. “The seven carts were heavier than a light vehicle,” said the worker.

He believed that his knee injury resulted from his job. However, he followed his supervisor’s instruction to receive medical care under the employer-based health insurance, one of Japan’s public health insurance schemes.

Regarding work-related injuries and illnesses, if a worker uses the public health insurance program for treatment, he/she will be charged 30% of the total treatment cost. On the other hand, the use of workers’ compensation insurance enables a worker to receive treatment without out-of-pocket medical expenses. In addition, with the use of this program, a worker who needs to take a leave from work will receive insurance benefits amounting to 80% of wages from the fourth day of absence.

Three weeks after damaging the knee ligaments, the worker told his boss that he will use the workers’ compensation insurance for treatment. Since then, in personal interviews with five supervisors, he was repeatedly required to use public health insurance. He said, “In the interviews, some superiors intended to convince me by saying that it’s kind of norm for Toyota workers to avoid using workers comp insurance for medical care for on-the-job injuries and diseases.”

In response to an Akahata inquiry, the Toyota public relations department said that the company has no policy of preventing workers from filing a workers compensation claim.

The worker angrily said to the Akahata reporter, “I think, there may be many workers who give up on applying for workers compensation benefits due to pressure from their bosses. This totally runs counter to what Toyota calls Toyotaism: harmony between supervisors and workers.”