Jul 13th, 2008 by RJ Menezes
In a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly common in Japan, a engineer for Toyota has died from being overworked.
Recently the Japanese labor bureau has ruled that a top Toyota engineer’s death in 2006 was in fact, in the line of duty. The verdict ruled in favor of the claim that he died directly from being overworked. The official ruling will let his family collect employee benefits from Toyota. The 45-year-old man was the lead engineer in the development of the Toyota Camry Hybrid, a car that was crucial for Toyota to keep it’s earth friendly image.
The worker, who’s name remains anonymous on behalf of his family’s wishes, averaged more than 80 hours of overtime in the two months preceding his death, which occurred on January 2006. His cause of death was determined as ischemic heart disease.
Death from overwork has become so common in Japan that there is a specific term for it in Japanese: karoshi. In fact there is even a karoshi help hotline and a Web site devoted to the issue. Toyota made no official comment on the case.
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