Dentsu Inc., the Japanese advertising giant, was inspected by Labor Ministry officials yesterday following a ruling last month that the death of a 24-year-old female employee was caused by overwork, the Nikkei Business Daily reported.
Officials from the Tokyo Labor Bureau made a visit to the company’s head office to investigate how it manages work hours of employees, it said. Dentsu said it was fully cooperating with the inquiry, the paper reported.
Matsuri Takahashi, who joined Dentsu in April 2015 after graduating from the University of Tokyo, committed suicide in December. A labor tribunal last month ruled the case a death from overwork, or karoshi, after severe work conditions were ruled to have caused her to suffer from depression, the paper said.
A 24-year-old male employee at Dentsu killed himself back in 1991, with that death also recognized as having resulted from overwork.
Japan’s Supreme Court in 2000 found Dentsu liable for his death, Nikkei said.