Dentsu will cooperate fully with the probe, Shusaku Kannan, a spokesman for Japan’s biggest ad agency, said by phone Monday. The government will pursue a criminal complaint if it finds evidence the company violated laws related to overtime hours, said a labor ministry official, who asked not to be identified per internal policy. Work issues were a contributing factor in 2,159 suicides in 2015, according to a health and labor ministry white paper published in October. “Enforcement of working hours laws is getting stricter,” said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co in Tokyo. Dentsu said in October it would reduce the limit for overtime work to 65 hours a month from 70 hours starting this month, after an employee’s suicide was blamed on overwork.

Source: The Edge Markets November 07, 2016 13:24 UTC