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Heavy workload caused worker's suicide: court

The Fukuoka District Court on April 12 ruled in favor of a bereaved wife's claim that a heavy workload was the major cause of the suicide of her husband.

Stating that Kanaya Ryoichi's suicide was due to mental disorders he was suffering because of an excessive workload, the ruling pointed out that it was illegal for the labor standards inspection office in Yame City in Fukuoka Prefecture to refuse his wife's claim for work-related death compensation.

Kanaya was transferred without his family in 1999 from a factory of Kanegafuchi Chemical Co., Ltd. (now called Kaneka) in Takasago City in Hyogo Prefecture to its affiliated company in Fukuoka's Chikugo City.

Despite his long career as a mechanical designer, at the new workplace Kanaya was put in a machinery maintenance section. While he was called up frequently to fix mechanical problems even on holidays, he studied hard after hours to acquire new skills needed for his new job. Four months after his relocation, he committed suicide at age 48.

Lawyers of Kanaya's wife stated that the labor standards inspection office must have recognized this case as a work-related death based on the Labor Ministry's instructions. They stressed that the ruling in effect calls for a correction of the administrative work dealing with suicides caused by heavy workloads.
- Akahata, April 13, 2006