A Toyota Motor employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled today.
The decision by the the Nagoya District Court in central Japan reversed a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.
The Toyota Labour Standards Inspection office had refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported.
The employee died of irregular heartbeat in February 2002 after passing out in the factory around 4am.
Toyota said it would further improve the management of its employees' health.
Overworking is a serious issue in Japan, where an average worker uses less than 50 per cent of paid holidays, according to government data.
In fiscal year 2005-2006, the labour ministry received 315 requests for compensation from the bereaved families of workers who died of strokes and other illnesses seen as work-related.