In Japan, an employer cannot simply make employees work as many extra hours as it wants just because a supervisor says, “Please stay late today.” As a general rule, statutory working hours are limited to eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. To require work beyond those limits, the employer normally needs a labor-management agreement known as a 36 Agreement (saburoku kyotei) and must file it with the Labor Standards Inspection Office.
A 36 Agreement alone, however, does not mean that an employer can order any employee to work any amount of overtime. There must also be a basis for overtime orders in the employment contract, work rules, or other applicable workplace rules. In other words, “This company has a 36 Agreement” and “You must work overtime today” are not exactly the same thing.
There are also legal limits on overtime. For most workers, overtime is generally limited to 45 hours per month and 360 hours per year. Even when exceptional and temporary circumstances exist and labor and management have agreed to special provisions, further limits still apply, including an annual ceiling of 720 hours.
Separate from the legal rules is the practical question of how easy it feels to refuse overtime. If a supervisor says the extra work is necessary, many employees may find it difficult to simply say, “I can’t stay today.” On the other hand, if someone has an unavoidable commitment such as picking up a child or attending a medical appointment, refusing may feel much easier. The legal outcome depends on the individual circumstances, but the employee’s own health, the health of family members, or caregiving responsibilities cannot simply be ignored.
Not everyone dislikes overtime, either. If overtime is properly compensated, some employees appreciate the additional income because it can help with everyday expenses or increase their savings. But if overtime becomes an everyday necessity just to keep the workplace functioning, many people would see that as a problem with staffing or the way the work is organized.
Japan does not operate on a simple rule that employees must obey every overtime order. Whether an employer may legally require overtime and whether an employee feels able to refuse it in the real workplace are two different questions.
