The Kashiwa Labor Standards Inspection Office in Chiba Prefecture has officially recognized that the death by suicide of a young male employee at housing manufacturer Polus in 2020 was work-related, attributing his death to mental health issues caused by customer harassment, the company and other sources said Tuesday.
It is rare for labor offices in Japan to acknowledge a link between suicide and customer harassment in workers’ compensation cases.
According to Polus and the other sources, the employee joined the Saitama-based company in April 2019 and was mainly responsible for sales of custom-built homes. He worked at a housing exhibition facility in Chiba Prefecture.