TOKYO - A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota’s top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.
The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man’s identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.
In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.
He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man’s daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.
The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.
An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record.
In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.
There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as “karoshi.” Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.
Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.
80hrs of OT per month is a lot? Are you kidding me? I did that for a year straight and I worked with a guy that got that much OT in 2 weeks. Sounds like Japan might be following in the footsteps of America with frivolous lawsuits.
I’ve read from Americans over there that the japanese stay at work for the majority of the day. But its smoke breaks every 15 minutes, naps at the desk, so its not like they’re getting more done. Its just a cultural shame thing to be the first one to leave.
i worked 2 22hr days once but it was a monday and a wed and we got the rest of the week off, and it was a bitch. to get 120hrs you gotta work 6 20hr days how the fuck would you stay awake by day 3 youd be dead, unless his job didnt include manual labor i dont know how he’d do it. besides isnt it illegal to work more then 16hrs i know NYS mandates 8 hrs between shifts for construction i dont know if other jobs are the same or not but you must get at least 8 hours off in between shifts.
By far, workers in South Korea have the longest work hours in the world. The average South Korean works 2,390 hours each year, according to the OECD. This is over 400 hours longer than the next longest-working country and 34% more hours than the average in the United States. A typical workweek in South Korea is 44 hours or longer. Most people start their day at 8am and end at around 7pm or later, often having dinner before returning to work. Until legislation in 2004 that virtually abolished the six-day workweek in large corporations known as “jaebol”, South Korea was the only country in the OECD that worked Saturdays.[5]
Work hours in Japan are decreasing, but many Japanese still work long hours. Recently, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has issued a draft report recommending major changes to regulations that govern working hours. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers.
South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or “karoshi” (과로사) is a recognized phenomenon.[6]
I would venture to guess that it wasn’t the job’s hours that killed him, but rather the certain stress he was put under in trying to fulfill the job he was gven…
I would assume that this case is specific to the individual for his own health problems, but people do work alot harder in Asia as compared to here. (from what I’m told)
South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or “karoshi” (과로사) is a recognized phenomenon.
i doubt if it was case specific it would be considered a phenomenon, that makes it sound like its something that happens frequently over ther. i also saw something on that same page that said the japanese work week was greatly reduced because this used to happen alot and when they shortened the week that gained praise from alot of asain countrys. thats why korea is number 1 now.
