Karoshi in Japan

Makoto Iwahashi 

MAY 2 2020

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Karoshi

Since a group of medical doctors, labor lawyers and labor activists coined the term karoshi, which literally means “death from overwork” in Japanese, in the 1980’s, the number of deaths and illnesses caused by workplace issues has increased dramatically.

According to the government whitepaper on karoshi, the number of workplace injury compensation application cases for injuries (including deaths) caused by either brain or heart disease due to overwork was 877 in 2018. In that year, the government recognized 238 cases including 82 deaths as workplace related. Those figures were 253 and 92 respectively in 2017. Japan has seen approximately 100 karoshi cases every year since 2002, meaning a karoshi occurs once every four days.

Generally, the threshold for the death to be considered karoshi, the worker must work more than 80 hours of overtime in a month for two to six months, or at least 100 hours of overtime in a month.

However, it should be noted that the cases the government determined as karoshi only represents the tip of the iceberg. It is extremely difficult for someone who have lost his/her family member to try to “prove” that the death was work-related. Many cases simply go unreported or treated as sudden cardiac death with no obvious cause. The Japanese government does not collect data on how many workers lose their lives due to overwork. 

Karojisatsu

Karojisatsu, which literally means suicide from overwork, is often caused by mental disorders from long working hours, changes in the quality and volume of work among other reasons. The number of applications for mental disorders (including suicide deaths) due to overwork was 1820, which was an all-time high in 2018. The government determined that 465 cases as work-related including 76 cases where the worker committed or attempted suicide.

It is clear that 465 cases only represent the tip of the iceberg considering how prevalent overwork and workplace harassment has become in Japan. The National Police Agency collects data on the number of suicide cases and determines that approximately 2,000 suicide cases are workplace related. Every year, about 2,000 workers lose their lives due to reasons related to their workplace but the government offers compensation to only less than 100 cases. 

Huge hurdles to clear

The reasons that huge underestimate occurs are 1) it is necessary for someone who lost his/her family member(s) to file an application to claim workplace injury compensation for the case to be considered karoshi, and 2) for the government to recognize the case as karoshi, workers family members must successfully collect evidence of overwork only by themselves.

If workers family members fail to apply for compensation, then it would simply go unreported even if there was a high chance the death was caused by overwork or other work-related issues. The government or a local labor standards office cannot conduct an investigation without receiving an application from a worker or a member of the worker’s family. This means that it is essential for family members to at least suspect that the death was work-related and to collect credible evidence to prove that the worker was putting in extremely long overtime hours or that the worker became mentally depressed from workplace harassment and no other reasons.

Many employers decide not to disclose workplace information fearing that they may be held accountable for the damages caused by forcing the worker to conduct long work hours. In cases involving workplace harassment, it gets even more difficult to show that the reason behind a suicide death was workplace related.

Even if/when family members were successful in collecting important evidence, the chance of the government determining the death as work-related and offering compensation is not very high. As we have seen above, in 877 cases, their family members thought the cause of the illness was overwork. However, only 238 cases were recognized as workplace related, leaving hundreds of workers and their families without any compensation.

Japanese employers are notorious for forcing long working hours to their employees which has led to hundreds and even thousands of workers losing their lives simply from working. However, in order to hold companies which treat their workers as if they are disposable, labor unions and NGOs need to support workers and family members so that they can exercise their rights to demand compensation from the government and from their employers.