Death of a career bureaucracy October 18 at 16:10
"I'm really sorry for my poor son"
March 5 years ago. A 31-year-old career bureaucrat from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications committed suicide after writing such a will.
Overtime hours before death were 135 hours a month, well beyond the death from overwork. (Maho Arakawa, reporter of Kasumigaseki Real Report Team)
Application 5 years after death
The death of this bureaucracy was revealed at a press conference held at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare this month.
The agent's lawyer is said to have applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to recognize the death of a man as a public disaster.
“Why did you apply now after 5 years?”
While thinking so, when I looked down at the distributed materials, it was written:
“The victims killed themselves around March 26, 2014. (Omitted) Due to the intention of the bereaved, some investigations were conducted within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to determine whether the deaths of the victims were caused by work. It has been left untouched. ''
What does this mean?
Men who were envy of the future
The man who committed suicide graduated from the University of Tokyo Graduate School in 2008 and entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that spring.
In addition to his communications work, he was also expected to have a future as a bureaucracy, including working for the minister's office.
However, the work of men was tough.
Immediately before his death, he was busy with the consumption tax hike, and long working hours had become normal. The overtime before the death obtained by the bereaved family is said to have reached 135 hours per month, well beyond the death from overwork.
It seems that a manuscript left by a man against his parents says "I'm really sorry for my poor son".
Five years have passed since my parents asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to investigate why my son died.
According to the lawyer, there was no contact from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for the parents who were waiting for the survey results for the past four years. Although my parents gave up, I thought again, “I shouldn't be ambiguous as it is”, and last year I consulted a lawyer.
Differences between the private sector and bureaucrats "work accident"
I asked Harukahei Yamaoka, who held the conference, why this happened.
Then, the answer “I think that the system unique to bureaucracy is related” has returned. Private companies and national civil servants have very different procedures until they are recognized as occupational accidents (in the case of civil servants, public accidents).
1: The survey subject is one of the relatives of the “subject” who conducts the survey and certification.
In the case of the private sector, labor accident surveys are conducted by the Labor Standards Inspection Office, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
If there is an application for an industrial accident, we will investigate the working hours and holiday acquisition status of the employer of the company, etc., and if there is a problem in work management, we will not only recognize it as an industrial accident but also give guidance to the company.
On the other hand, in the case of national civil servants, the subject of the investigation is conducted by each ministry or agency. The National Personnel Authority may be involved in the discussion, but the final certification decision is left to each ministry.
2: The survey period is another “time” for certification. In the case of private occupational accident certification, there are differences in the case, but it is said that the survey results will be completed in about two years at the latest.
However, in the case of national civil servants, there is no specific guideline for these periods. For this reason what kind of investigation is referred to as prone to or opaque it has been made.
Mr. Yamaoka pointed out that even after 5 years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications did not even get a sound.
“In the case of the private sector, the labor base office enters and judges between the parties and the company in a third party, but in the case of the bureaucracy, there is no such element of“ third party ”.
From the person and the survivor seeking certification, it would be tempting to appeal strongly to the workplace where they worked, that is, to the ministries and agencies. There may be times when we try to make it small.
There seems to be a lot of people crying and sleeping. "
An unacceptable public disaster, at the tip of the iceberg ...
I asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications why it took five years, but there was no clear answer.
In addition, the National Personnel Authority responded that it cannot answer individual cases.
However, this time, when the bereaved family and lawyer filed with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for a civil service disaster, Mr. Shigeki Suzuki apologized and said,
“I think that this resulted in such a suicide situation as a result of the burden of both quantity and quality due to long working hours. I would like to investigate and proceed with the procedure for the recognition of public accidents as soon as possible.”
In the latest survey (FY2017), among the people who died as national civil servants, only five people were recognized as civil service disasters. There is one suicide.
In interviews, however, other ministries and agencies have heard cases of “suicide” and “suddenly died”.
I think this data is only part of the actual situation, and will continue to report.
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