Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 4 - 10 [LABOR]

Suicide worker’s parents demand damages from employer

The bereaved family of a young woman who had worked at a Japanese izakaya chain restaurant filed a lawsuit on December 9 with the Tokyo District Court seeking compensation from the company for their daughter’s death.

Mori Mina, then 26, entered Watami Foodservice Co. in April 2008 and was assigned to its pub restaurant in Kanagawa Prefecture.

She was forced to work more than 140 hours overtime a month, including late-night overtime for six days in a row, and soon developed an adjustment disorder. Two months later, she committed suicide by jumping from a landing in an apartment building located near her house.

Mina’s parents brought a lawsuit against the company and its former president Watanabe Miki, who is a Liberal Democratic Party member of the Upper House, demanding damages of 153 million yen.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer told reporters that they decided to claim punitive damages as is done in the United States, in a bid to prevent employers from forcing employees to work long hours.

Mina’s father said, “I hope the suit will reveal why my daughter died. I think it is wrong to have to accept extraordinary long working hours as a matter of course.”

Past related article:
> Izakaya restaurant chain worker’s suicide recognized as work-related [February 23 & 24, 2012]