Labor laws limit overtime work at 45 hours per month, 360 hours per year. However, by signing special clauses of the Labor-Management Agreement on Overtime, commonly referred to as, "the 36 Agreement," companies may order employees work beyond the limits. This article looks at important points in applying special clauses.
[1] Review in the Labor Standards Inspection Office’s operations
The revision on September 1 include changes in the Labor Standards Inspection Offices’ handling of cases of overtime work. Instead of across-the-board instruction to companies to keep overtime and holiday work under 45 hours per month, inspectors will examine individual cases to ensure that health and welfare measures in the 36 Agreement are implemented appropriately and provide necessary guidance. If inspectors find that excessive work is likely to cause health problems, they will give instruction to the company, according to the situation of the workplace.
[2] Importance of health and welfare measures
Under the 36 Agreement, employers are required to implement measures to maintain health and welfare of workers whose overtime hours surpass monthly or yearly limits. If a company chooses “face-to-face guidance by a physician” from the list in the 36 Agreement, it needs to provide applicable workers with medical consultation and keep record thereof.
In line with the new policies, inspectors will check the record strictly to see if medical consultation has been conducted as needed. Companies are encouraged to keep records of medical consultation as required.
[3] Yearly overtime limit of 360 hours
The special clauses also include the procedure for making employees work beyond the limit. Companies must follow the procedure in the agreement both for monthly and yearly overtime beyond 45 hours and 360 hours, respectively.
Even if monthly overtime hours are under 45 hours, companies also need to monitor if overtime exceeds the yearly limit. If an employee continues to work 40 extra hours on a monthly basis, overtime reaches 360 hours in the ninth month.
Companies are allowed to make an employee work overtime beyond the limit up to six times a year. Please note this rule only applies to monthly limit of 45 hours. There is no need to include overtime exceeding annual limit of 360 hours in the count.
It is common for firms to reuse the 36 Agreement from the previous year by only changing dates without reviewing details. Please examine the clauses carefully and ensure that personnel management is in accordance with the rules.
*In the case of a yearly variable working hour system with a counting period of over 3 months, the monthly and yearly overtime limits are 42 hours and 320 hours, respectively.
■Reference
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, special website for working style reform, “Upper limits to overtime work”
https://hatarakikatakaikaku.mhlw.go.jp/overtime.html
