Dentsu chief admits illegal overtime at court hearing

September 22, 2017

TOKYO- Dentsu Inc. President Toshihiro Yamamoto admitted illegal overtime at the top Japanese ad agency, during the first court hearing Friday on the scandal that came to light following the high-profile overwork-induced suicide of a young female employee.

"We deeply apologize," he said at the hearing, held at Tokyo Summary Court. The company is alleged to have violated the labor standards law.

Public prosecutors demanded a criminal fine of 500,000 yen for Dentsu. The court concluded the hearing process the same day and set its ruling for Oct. 6.

The trial is the country's first in which a major company faces criminal charges over labor management. It is also rare that a formal trial has been held over a violation of the law.

The suicide in December 2015 of Matsuri Takahashi, 24, a first-year Dentsu employ, was recognized as a work-related case by a Tokyo labor standards inspection office in September last year.

According to the indictment, three division chiefs at the company's headquarters in Tokyo allegedly forced Takahashi and three other employees to work up to 19 hours more than its monthly overtime cap between October and December 2015.

In its opening statement, the prosecution criticized Dentsu's corporate culture, saying that employees across the company have routinely worked long hours, including late in the night and on holidays, with the firm giving top priority to clients.

The prosecution argued that Dentsu management failed to conduct a workload review when it revised its overtime agreement with the labor side under the law after the firm's branch in the western city of Osaka received an administrative instruction over long work hours in June 2014. Jiji Press