The labor ministry referred advertising agency Dentsu Inc. and three officials from its offices in Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto to prosecutors on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Labor Standards Law by making employees work overtime beyond legal limits.
The move came after a 24-year-old employee of the company, Matsuri Takahashi, committed suicide due to overwork in December 2015. The ministry forwarded documents about Dentsu and Takahashi's manager to prosecutors in December last year on the suspicion that she was forced to underreport her working hours.
After reviewing the documents, local prosecutors will transfer the cases to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office to decide whether criminal charges will be brought.