Kansai Electric Power Co. admitted Thursday it has not paid 12,900 employees a total of ¥1.7 billion in overtime wages for a two-year period through the end of last year.
The Osaka-based utility discovered the underpayments for late-night overtime work while investigating the suicide last April of an employee suspected of overwork. The investigations were mandated by labor authorities following the suicide.
Kansai Electric tallied the work hours of its 22,400 employees and will retrospectively make up the unpaid overtime wages, it said, adding that in five exceptional cases the firm owed each of the workers ¥3 million or more.