Dentsu chief to resign over employee's suicide from overwork

The president of top Japanese advertising company Dentsu Inc. will step down to take responsibility for the suicide of a worker who had clocked massive overtime.

President Tadashi Ishii said at a Tokyo news conference he will tender his resignation at a board meeting in January although he will stay through March as a courtesy to shareholders.

Earlier Wednesday, government authorities filed papers demanding prosecutorial charges against the unidentified Dentsu employee suspected of driving Matsuri Takahashi to suicide from overwork.

Takahashi jumped from her company dorm balcony in December 2015, after clocking 100 hours of overtime a month and leaving a farewell email begging her mother to not blame herself.

The government in September ruled that overwork caused her death.

Tokyo-based Dentsu has repeatedly promised to curtail overtime.