Japan court awards compensation for man bullied to death
Posted: 16 October 2007 1534 hrs
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Tokyo workers
TOKYO: A Japanese court in a first-of-a-kind decision has awarded
workers' compensation to the family of a man who hanged himself
after being constantly harassed by his boss.
Japanese offices, although they are gradually becoming more
relaxed, are known for rigid hierarchies, with bosses often meting
out stinging criticism of subordinates.
The Tokyo District Court on Monday awarded workers' compensation to
the widow of a salesman for the Nikken pharmaceutical company, then
35, who committed suicide after constant verbal abuse by his
boss.
It was the first case in Japan in which a court ordered the
government to pay compensation to the family of a worker who died
solely due to a superior's harassment, the plaintiff's lawyer
said.
The man, in a letter left before his death, said his boss had
constantly insulted him for several months.
According to the letter, the abuse included his boss telling him,
"Your very existence gets on the nerves", "You are an annoyance to
everyone", "I can't believe you found a wife who married you", and
"Just go and disappear".
The superior also allegedly degraded the man at the company's
year-end party, telling him: "You are so filthy with your back
covered in dandruff. Are you sure you don't have a disease?"
The man went into depression and hanged himself in March
2003.
The widow's lawyer hailed the ruling.
"Japan has established legal enforcement to fight sexual
harassment, but neglected almost all the cases of verbal abuse and
harassment from a boss against a subordinate," lawyer Hiroshi
Kawahito said after the ruling.
The court order sends the case back to the government labour
office, which first rejected compensation but now has to come up
with a figure.
- AFP/so
