KOBE (Kyodo) The parents of a company worker in Kobe who died last year sued his former employer Wednesday for 86 million yen in damages, claiming their son's death was the result of overwork.

Hirokazu Aoki, 32, died in April 2000 due to intracerebral bleeding after collapsing inside a lavatory at the office of Kobe-based car audio maker Fujitsu Ten Ltd.

According to the suit filed by Aoki's parents, who live in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, he was working until almost midnight every day in the months prior to his death.

Aoki, who joined the company in 1992, was responsible for the design of compact disc players. His workload increased after defects were found in car CD players produced at the company's plant in China.

From January to March 2000, he worked 88 to 117 hours of overtime a month. He collapsed in the company lavatory on the evening of April 6 and was found dead the next morning by a colleague.

The parents said the company is responsible for his death from overwork, or "karoshi," because it failed to reduce his workload even though he had been warned of high blood pressure.

They also called it abnormal that an accord between the firm and its labor union allows employees to work up to 900 hours of overtime a year.

Fujitsu Ten said it cannot comment on the lawsuit.