79 million yen awarded over 'karoshi'

Nihonkai Shoya and its four top managers were ordered Tuesday to pay about 78.6 million yen in damages to the parents of an employee who died of overwork in August 2007. The Kyoto District Court's decision was the first to find the top management of a major business corporation liable to pay damages in a suit involving death by overwork, or "karoshi". Motoyasu Fukiage, 24, died from acute heart failure after working an average of 112 hours of overtime per month.