Labor office acknowledges first foreign trainee’s death from overwork

Japan Press Weekly

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

Labor office acknowledges first foreign trainee’s death from overwork

The Kashima Labor Standards Inspection Office on July 2 recognized a Chinese male technical intern’s death as “karoshi” (death from overwork).

This was the first acknowledgement of similar cases pending in Japan, according to a lawyers’ group working to eliminate employers’ abuse of foreign trainees and technical interns.

The male intern arrived in Japan in December 2005 under the government-authorized training programs, “Industrial Training Program and Technical Internship Program.” He worked at a metal processing company in Itako City in Ibaraki Prefecture, and died of cardiac arrest in June 2008.

The labor standards inspection office said that just before his death between March and May 2008, he worked up to 98 hours of overtime per month.

- Akahata, July 3 2010