Don't forget about work and horses
Death in Japan. For almost $2 million
Vasily Golovnin, Echo of Moscow
There is a network of useful stores in Japan called Tokyu Hands: these are such "a thousand little things" where you can buy a lot for your home, repair with your own hands, for all kinds of crafts and the most intricate hobbies. So, the other day this prosperous and very respectable trading company got into about 830 thousand dollars. The local court ordered her to pay such a sum to the wife and son of one of the modest ordinary employees of Tokyu Hands. Who worked diligently in the kitchen supplies department, and then took and died in his sleep at the age of 30. And his widow was able to prove that he died from desperate overwork at work.
In Japan, such a sad event is called the word "karosi" – death from excessive labor. This is an absolutely official term. The Japanese Ministry of Labor even has official instructions on how to define this very "karosi". I leafed through it: the main criterion, of course, is a violation of local legislation on the duration of work. In Japan, there is an 8-hour working day, and an employee can be forced to work no more than 40 hours per week. Overtime is possible, but not more than 360 hours per year. To prove the case of "karosi", it is necessary to convince the court that the unfortunate employee of a particular company, before moving to another world, worked above this norm. Especially if without additional remuneration.
For an example, as they say, it is not necessary to go far: the widow of an unhappy employee of the kitchen supplies department provided evidence that her husband's monthly processing exceeded 80 hours. In addition, she managed to convince the court with the help of witnesses that the authorities constantly yelled at the unfortunate and humiliated him in every possible way, and this, they say, finally undermined his already weakened vitality.
About 250-350 "karosi" are recorded annually in Japan. Monetary compensation can be obtained only in about half of the cases – the courts in such cases require considerable effort. But the reward in case of victory inspires respect – in one of the cases known to me, Karosi was paid 168 million yen – almost $ 1.8 million at the current exchange rate. The story, by the way, was entertaining: such a huge compensation in 1999 was received by the family of a young employee of the largest advertising company in the country and, possibly, in the whole world, "Dentsu". He led a radio-related project, hardly rested, he was constantly driven on business trips and constantly scolded. The guy became depressed and committed suicide. The court recognized this as a completely unbridled case of illegal exploitation.
The Japanese, by the way, generally believe that they work the most in the world. And on this occasion they feel some quiet pity mixed with secret pride. Like, what are we like! The Japanese belief in their own diligence has, of course, good reasons – I knew, for example, one Tokyo employee who categorically refused vacations all his life. So as not to look lazy. Many Japanese, you won't believe it, experience considerable mental anguish when going on vacation. They are afraid to think about how they will look into the eyes of colleagues who worked hard all those days while someone was carelessly resting. For this reason, people here rarely take the prescribed vacation days at once, because they are afraid to be away for too long.
The Japanese, on the other hand, adore collective vacations when no one is afraid or ashamed. As a rule, everyone takes vacation days in a crowd during the "golden week", coinciding with our May holidays, on New Year's Eve and in hot August, when the whole country cheerfully celebrates the holiday of commemoration of ancestors. If a young man hopes for a career in a Japanese office, then he is obliged to stay at the workplace after the end of the working day of his own free will – and in any case never leave before the boss. However, as I have seen more than once, all this often smacks of empty sitting out of pants, inefficiency, the habit of simply shifting pieces of paper from place to place. On the other hand, there are more and more young people in Japan who do not want to pretend to be workaholics. "You have no idea – they calmly get up at exactly six in the evening, say goodbye and go home," one Tokyo middle–class boss told me with horror.– We weren't like that!" A lot of young people in Japan, unlike their work–obsessed parents, are now completely not striving for a career and a permanent place of earnings - here you can quite get by with temporary hacks, live well and even go to some Australia to surf.
But still, it is the belief in their extraordinary diligence that makes the Japanese take the problem of "karoshi" extremely seriously: they quite admit that a person can work to death. Or from fatigue and despair from the lack of success in the service to commit suicide.
By the way, last year in Japan for the first time in the last fifteen years, less than 30 thousand suicides were committed. To be precise, there were about 28 thousand of them – almost 10 percent less than a year ago. The authorities claim that this is also their merit – lawsuits and hundreds of thousands of dollars of compensation for "karosi" force, in their opinion, private entrepreneurs to take more care of the physical and moral condition of their workaholic employees.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru28.03.2013