0. Must you fall apart before help arrives?
Imagine a manager yelling at you, insulting your character and pushing you out of the team. You leave before your health collapses. That sounds like a sensible escape.
Yet an insurance claim for a mental illness caused by work asks something different: Did a covered illness develop, and can its link to work be established? It can feel like a game that unlocks the rescue level only after your health bar hits zero. The rules do not actually require you to wait until you are severely ill.[2]
1. Workplace bullying and insurance approval are different questions
Employers in Japan must prevent workplace harassment, provide a way to report it and respond appropriately. Those duties do not start only when somebody receives a diagnosis.[3]
Insurance for a work-caused mental illness, by contrast, requires an illness and proof that work caused it. A possible claim against the employer for harm is a third, separate issue. No insurance payment does not mean the behavior was acceptable or lawful. Think of three doors, not one magic button.
2. What do officials examine?
Under the Japanese rules revised in September 2023, officials generally check three things: a covered mental illness developed; work caused a very strong psychological burden during roughly the six months before it developed; and the illness is not found to have been caused by nonwork events or personal factors.[2]
The six months are not a rigid cutoff. If harassment continued into that period, earlier incidents can count too. Having an existing illness does not automatically exclude someone: an exceptionally serious worsening caused by work can also qualify in the relevant part. Severity alone is not the entrance ticket. Early medical care matters.
3. What does the 28.2% figure actually mean?
For fiscal year 2025, statistics released on July 15, 2026 recorded 4,958 claims relating to work-caused mental illness, 3,839 decisions and 1,082 positive decisions. Positive decisions were 28.2% of decisions. Harassment by superiors and others was the main recorded event in 222 positive decisions.[1]
Two traps: 28.2% covers all mental-illness cases, not harassment cases alone. Claims filed and decisions made in the same year are not necessarily about the same people. The figures cannot tell us that people whose claims failed were lying.
4. What behavior matters?
Japan describes six common patterns of workplace harassment: physical attacks, verbal or psychological attacks, isolation, impossible demands, withholding reasonable work, and excessive intrusion into private life. They are examples, not a complete list.[3]
For an insurance claim, investigators look at what was done, its seriousness, repetition, duration and the employer’s response. Serious violence, repeated attacks on a person’s dignity and repeated intimidating lectures may count as particularly strong pressures.[2] One incident is not automatically harmless; lacking a recording is not automatic defeat. Details matter.
5. Two workers, one awful manager
Worker A leaves early and never develops a covered mental illness. Worker B develops such an illness and seeks medical help. For mental-illness insurance benefits, B may meet the first condition while A does not. B still must establish the work connection; A may still seek workplace protection or another remedy.[2][3]
That is the uncomfortable gap: Leaving early may protect your health but leave you outside a benefit designed for illness after it develops. Leaving was not a mistake.
6. Sick-pay benefits versus work-injury insurance
Japan’s ordinary health-insurance sickness allowance mainly covers illness or injury unrelated to work: roughly two-thirds of a separately calculated daily amount, generally beginning on day four after a three-day waiting period, for up to a combined 18 months.[5]
For recognized work-related injury or illness, the workers’ compensation system generally provides, from the fourth day of absence, 60% of its daily base plus a 20% special payment, and covers necessary medical treatment. Duration and other benefits depend on the case; for work accidents, the employer normally bears responsibility for the first three days of absence.[4][7]
Two-thirds and 80% use different calculation bases. They are not guaranteed percentages of take-home pay. You cannot simply choose the more lucrative system or collect both freely for the same illness. Receiving sickness benefits after quitting has additional conditions.[5]
7. Does the employer have veto power?
No. The local labor standards inspection office decides the insurance claim. A worker may apply even if the company refuses to confirm the paperwork. Resignation does not automatically erase the right to apply.[6][7]
The company can act as if it has forgotten the entire concept of a workplace. It still is not the final referee.
8. What can you do before reaching a breaking point?
Record dates, words used, witnesses, work consequences and any complaint to the company. Keep relevant messages and work records legally and safely; do not publish confidential or private information. Seek medical help early when sleep, appetite or ability to work changes. Contact the employer’s reporting channel, a prefectural labor consultation office or the labor standards inspection office.[3][6]
Before resigning, check how income during leave and benefits after resignation would work. Some sickness-benefit continuation conditions depend on whether you worked on your final day.[5] Safety comes before assembling a perfect evidence file.
9. The bigger policy gap
Insurance for an illness has a reason to ask whether an illness occurred. But preventing harm and helping somebody leave a dangerous job before illness develops are separate tasks.
The answer is not to wait until you get sicker. It is better ways to stop abuse, get help, take leave and survive financially after leaving.
“We will pay after you break” is not enough. People also need a safe exit before that happens.
Quick questions
Does a diagnosis guarantee approval? No; the work connection is also examined.[2]
Does an existing mental illness rule you out? No, a significant work-caused worsening can matter.[2]
Can you apply after resigning? Yes, subject to relevant requirements and deadlines.[7]
Does 28.2% mean most harassment reports were false? Absolutely not. It is a decision-based rate covering all relevant mental illnesses.[1]
References (7)
- [1] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: FY2025 compensation statistics: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_74476.html
- [2] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Rules for recognizing psychological work burdens (2023): https://www.mhlw.go.jp/web/t_doc?dataId=00tc7915&dataType=1
- [3] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Workplace harassment prevention: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/koyoukintou/seisaku06/
- [4] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Calculation of absence payments: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000154476.html
- [5] Japan Health Insurance Association: Ordinary sickness allowance and after-resignation conditions: https://www.kyoukaikenpo.or.jp/benefit/injury_and_sickness_allowance/
- [6] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Claiming without employer confirmation: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000154453.html
- [7] Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Coverage and claiming after resignation: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/roudoukijun/gyousei/rousai/index.html
