In Japan, some workers experience mental illness due to overwork or stress at work and, in the worst cases, choose to commit suicide. Karoshi (death by overwork) and Karojisatsu (suicide by overwork or work stress), which should be distinguished from workaholism, reflect the extreme work conditions in Japan. Ironically, the processes to address these illnesses have contributed to improving the workers’ compensation system in the country. Currently, mental illnesses are incorporated into the list of occupational diseases covered by the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act.
This paper outlines the history of the statutes and regulations concerning the certification of workers’ compensation for mental illness in Japan (Section 2); discusses the Certification Criteria, which plays a central role in deciding whether a case is work-related or not (Section 3); and analyzes the revisions to the Criteria in 2023 (Section 4).
Until the mid-1970s, suicide had only rarely been compensable under the workers’ compensation system in Japan. In 1984, however, a mental illness was recognized as an occupational disease for the first time in a case where a worker suffered from depression due to difficulty carrying out his work and eventually attempted suicide. In the latter half of the 1990s, several court decisions confirmed the work-related nature in cases where a worker suffered from depression and committed suicide due to excessive burden from work but with no work-related injuries or illness in the traditional sense. Consequently, the first notification was issued in 1999, significantly changing the conventional practices around workers’ compensation for suicide of mental illness. In 2010, mental illnesses were added to the list of causes of occupational diseases eligible for workers’ compensation, and in 2011, a revised notification (“Old Certification Criteria”) was issued. In 2023, a full review was undertaken, and a new notification issued (“Certification Criteria”).
Although the Certification Criteria are not binding on courts, many courts do rely on them to make decisions. The Certification Criteria state that a claim for workers’ compensation will be granted if a case is recognized as an occupational disease by meeting the following three requirements: [1] the worker has developed a mental illness that falls within the Certification Criteria, [2] the worker has experienced severe psychological stress at work for approximately six months before the onset of the mental illness, and [3] psychological stress that is not work-related or personal factors are not considered to have caused the disease. The most important condition, “severe psychological stress at work” ([2]), is a result of a comprehensive evaluation against a psychological stress evaluation table that classifies the intensity of psychological stress into three levels: mild, moderate, or severe.
In the 2023 revision of the Criteria, [1] the psychological stress evaluation table was improved by adding specific examples and updating the table items and [2] principles and exceptions included for cases involving the deterioration of mental illnesses. The remaining issues include the definition of “workers of the same kind” and the need for transparency in the evaluation of the severity of multiple events.
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