Hasta La Creative!

Prosecutors in Tokyo are sending a case against Dentsu Inc. to court after the 2015 suicide of a young employee who had complained about overwork and exhaustion, according to local newspaper reports. But individual Dentsu executives were not indicted in the case, which led to reforms and soul-searching about long hours and tough working conditions at the ad giant’s Japanese operations and at the country’s companies in general.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has sent Dentsu’s case to the city’s summary court on the charge that it had employees doing illegal overtime, The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. In Japan, summary courts hear cases involving fines or lighter punishments; reports said the court would decide whether to fine Dentsu.

Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old Dentsu recruit in Japan, jumped from a window of her corporate dormitory in December 2015. She had complained on Twitter about how much she was working and how tired she was. Labor inspectors deemed her suicide a case of “karoshi,” a Japanese term that means “death from overwork.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com