Dentsu Japan offices raided in probe over excessive overtime

Tokyo

DENTSU Inc offices were raided on Monday by labour ministry officials looking for evidence that the advertising firm's employees exceeded legal limits on overtime hours, after a worker's suicide drew national attention to one of the country's largest and most prestigious companies.

Dentsu will cooperate fully with the probe, Shusaku Kannan, a spokesman for Japan's biggest ad agency, said by phone on Monday. The government will pursue a criminal complaint if it finds evidence the company violated laws related to overtime hours, said a labour ministry official, who asked not to be identified per internal policy.