◆The nation’s first shareholder lawsuit seeking liability for death from overwork
In an incident involving a bank employee sustaining depression from overwork and committing suicide by leaping to his death, the man’s wife sued the bank. The Kumamoto District Court found the bank negligent and that it had caused excess working hours, ordering it to pay damages to the widow totaling 128.86M JPY (October 2014). The Labor Standards Office also found that overtime work preceding the onset of depression in this case had reached 207 hours.
In September of this year, the wife sued, as a shareholder of the bank, 11 persons who were then officers of the bank for failing to create a system that would prevent death from overwork. The suit seeks damages of 260.4M JPY.
◆What liability of officers does this lawsuit bring into question?
Article 355 of the Companies Act stipulates that officers have a duty to act in good faith to the company and are subject to negligence of their duties for infraction of the same (Article 423, Clause 1, Companies Act).
Shareholder lawsuits seek liability against officers for negligence in their duties, thereby causing damages to the company and shareholders, but this is the first time such a lawsuit would seek liability for death and suicide from overwork.
◆Ongoing cases of liability being sought against officers from death and suicide from overwork
A famous case that previously found company officers liable for the suicide of an employee was the May 2011 Osaka High Court case against Daisyo (Izakaya Nihonkai Shoya). In that case, Clause 1, Article 429 of the Companies Act, stipulating the liability officers bear to third parties, was used as precedent in a case of death and suicide from overwork.
In the suit against Watami Co., Ltd. for suicide from overwork, which resulted in a settlement in December 2015, the plaintiff stated that the settlement documents acknowledge that the founders of the company “bear the utmost liability for damages.”
In this way, company managers’ neglecting the issue of overwork is increasingly becoming the subject of intense scrutiny for their liability.
