The Yokohama branch of the Kanagawa labor office has approved a worker's compensation claim filed by a woman working from home for having developed a mental disorder due to working long overtime hours, her lawyers said Wednesday.
The claim was filed by the woman in her 50s who works for a medical equipment manufacturer in Yokohama. This is a rare case in which a work-related illness has been officially attributed to remote work, the lawyers said at a news conference.
According to the lawyers, the woman joined the company in 2019 and was engaged in accounting and human resources, but began working from home around 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19.
In the latter half of 2021, her overtime hours increased as a result of having to work on a newly introduced reimbursement system. She received frequent work instructions from her supervisor via email and chat, and was forced to work on her days off.
In March 2022, she was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder, after working more than 100 hours of overtime per month for the previous two months. Adjustment disorders occur when the body and mind undergo an intense response to stress, impacting an individual's cognition, emotions, and behavior.
The labor office approved the worker's compensation claim on March 8 this year, stating that she had developed a mental disorder due to the strong psychological burden her work had put on her.
Yuta Arino, one of the woman’s lawyers, pointed out, "It is necessary to manage working hours properly and aim to reduce working hours, even for those working from home.”