On December 26,2011 the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare issued a new standard in the Workers’Compensation Law for Job-Induced Mental Disorders. The standard provides new guidelines for determining the degree to which conditions in the workplace bring on stress that results in mental disorders in workers.
 One case study will be discussed. An employee developed a mood disorder resulting in prolonged sick leave because of overly severe scaldings and warnings from the boss. The employee applied for workers’compensation 7 years after the incident and after the implementation of the new Workers’Compensation Law. I will discuss how the new law allows workers to claim compensation for work-induced mental disorders that happened before the law came into effect.