Bullying is blamed for work suicide

An engineer at Toyota killed himself after being constantly ridiculed by his boss, authorities have ruled.

Toyota Motor Corp acknowledged the case after reports of the ruling emerged on Tuesday. The company said it hopes to prevent further such cases and expressed condolences over the death.

The case came amid growing awareness of problems with what the Japanese call “power harassment.”

A regional labor bureau ruled in September that the 2017 suicide entitled the victim’s family to compensation under a law regarding job-related deaths. Such rulings in Japan are sometimes not disclosed for weeks or longer.

Yoshihide Tachino, the attorney for the victim and his family, said Toyota was responsible for mismanagement for allowing the harassment to continue.

“When a worker suffers psychologically from the traumatic experience of harassment, that worker may continue to suffer even after he or she is able to return to work,” Tachino said.

Tachino said the 28-year-old engineer was repeatedly called an idiot by his boss and told he should die. His name was withheld. His boss bullied him with constant insults, ordering him not to take days off and ridiculing his education.