Japan Press Weekly

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2008 July 9 - 15 [LABOR]

Labor standards inspection office recognizes a Toyota engineer’s death as ‘Karoshi’

The Labor Standards Inspection Office in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, recently recognized the death of a chief engineer at Toyota Motors as caused by excessively heavy workloads and long working hours. His family has a right to claim work-related accident insurance money.

For two consecutive months before his death, he worked in excess of more than 80 hours a month, suffering from mental strain as he was pressured to prepare for a U.S. auto show and meet the deadline for the start of the vehicle’s production.

The 45-year-old engineer was the director in charge of the development of the hybrid midsize sedan “Camry” in November 2004. His responsibility was to handle all phases of development, from design to cost estimation and public relations, but he died of a heart attack in bed at home in January 2006.

After the labor office decision, his wife said, “I almost gave up on receiving insurance compensation. I’m now very glad to hear that his death was regarded as Karoshi applicable to the work-related accident/disease insurance. I don’t want to see any worker suffer like my husband did.” - Akahata, July 9, 2008