Japan 36 Agreement & Overtime Compliance Calculator
Verify monthly and annual overtime against the post-2019 reform caps under Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act. Standard limits, the special clause (特別条項), single-month and rolling-average ceilings.
36 Agreement compliance calculator
How it works
How the 36 Agreement and the post-2019 caps actually work
In Japan, the statutory working week is 40 hours and the statutory working day is 8 hours (Article 32 of the Labor Standards Act). On top of that, employees are entitled to at least one full rest day per week or four rest days in any 4-week period (Article 35). Any work beyond those statutory limits, including any work on a weekly rest day, is unlawful unless the employer has filed a written labor-management agreement under Article 36 (the 36 Agreement, or 36協定) with the local Labor Standards Inspection Office (労働基準監督署).
1. The April 2019 reform changed everything
Before April 2019, the 36 Agreement allowed effectively uncapped overtime through ministerial notices that were not legally binding. The Work Style Reform package (働き方改革関連法) made the caps statutory, with criminal penalties for breach. Large enterprises were subject from April 2019 and small and medium enterprises from April 2020. Construction, transport (drivers), doctors, and Kagoshima/Okinawa sugar manufacturing had a five-year deferral that ended in April 2024.
2. Standard caps (原則)
- 45 hours of overtime per month (法定時間外労働)
- 360 hours of overtime per year
These are absolute. Without a special clause, no single month and no full year can exceed them. For employees on a 1-year variable working hours system (1年単位の変形労働時間制) the standard caps drop to 42 hours per month and 320 hours per year.
3. Special clause (特別条項) and its four hard limits
The 36 Agreement may, optionally, include a special clause that lets the employer exceed the standard monthly cap for documented temporary reasons (peak season, urgent customer issues, unforeseen events). Even with the special clause, four absolute limits remain:
- 720 hours of overtime per year (the 720h cap excludes holiday work)
- Less than 100 hours combined (overtime + holiday work) in any single month
- 80 hours per month average (overtime + holiday work) over any consecutive 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 month window
- No more than 6 months in the year exceeding 45h of overtime
The 80h rolling average is the trickiest one in practice: it must hold for every possible window, not just calendar quarters. A peak month can be 99h, but if it pulls the surrounding 5 months above an 80h average, that is a violation.
4. What counts as overtime, and what counts as holiday work
Overtime (法定時間外労働) is hours beyond the statutory 8 per day or 40 per week. Hours that exceed the contractual schedule but stay within the statutory 8/40 are contractual overtime and do not count toward the 36 Agreement caps (though they may still attract a premium under the work rules).
Holiday work (休日労働) is work performed on the legally guaranteed weekly rest day. It is tracked separately from overtime and counts only toward the single-month 100h cap and the 80h rolling-average cap, not the standard 45h/360h or special-clause 720h caps.
5. Penalty and enforcement
Article 119 sets criminal penalties of up to 6 months imprisonment or a 300,000 yen fine per violation. Beyond the formal penalty, MHLW publishes the names of violators on its public list (送検事案), which damages reputation and disqualifies the employer from favorable treatment in public procurement and in 助成金 (subsidy) applications.
6. Exempt and special categories
- Management-level employees (管理監督者, Art. 41): exempt from the daily, weekly and overtime caps but still entitled to night-work premiums. Misclassification is heavily scrutinized; the test is actual authority and discretion, not job title.
- Drivers: annual cap raised to 960h overtime, single-month and rolling averages still apply, plus separate Driver Improvement Standards.
- Doctors: baseline 960h/year, raisable to 1,860h with prefectural designation as a B/C-tier hospital.
- Construction: standard caps with limited exemption only for disaster recovery work.
Reference
Key terms and concepts
36 Agreement (36協定 / さぶろくきょうてい)
A written labor-management agreement filed under Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act with the local Labor Standards Inspection Office. It is the only legal basis for working beyond the statutory 8h/day, 40h/week, or on a statutory weekly rest day.
Statutory hours (法定労働時間)
8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, set by Article 32. Anything above this requires a 36 Agreement and triggers premium pay (Article 37).
Statutory holiday (法定休日)
The legally required weekly rest day under Article 35. Work on this day is 休日労働 (holiday work) and is tracked separately from overtime.
Overtime, statutory vs contractual (法定時間外労働 vs 所定時間外労働)
Statutory overtime is hours beyond 8/day or 40/week; these count toward the 36 Agreement caps and trigger statutory premium pay. Contractual overtime is hours beyond the contractual schedule but within the statutory limits; these do not count toward 36 Agreement caps but may still trigger premium pay if your work rules say so.
Special clause (特別条項)
An optional clause in the 36 Agreement permitting overtime to exceed 45h in any month, but only on documented temporary grounds and only up to 6 months per year, and always within the 720h/100h/80h hard limits.
1-year variable working hours system (1年単位の変形労働時間制)
A working hours arrangement where the average across the year stays within 40h/week but individual weeks can exceed it. Caps are stricter under this system: 42h/month and 320h/year.
Management-level supervisor (管理監督者)
Article 41 exempts this category from the daily/weekly/overtime caps. The legal test is real managerial authority, working time autonomy, and a compensation level reflecting the role, not the job title.
Frequently asked
Common questions about Japan overtime caps
Do we have to file a new 36 Agreement every year?
Yes. The agreement has a maximum duration of one year and must be re-filed annually with the local Labor Standards Inspection Office. The standard MHLW form (様式第9号 series) covers most cases; the special clause version is 様式第9号の2.
What if a single month hits exactly 100 hours of combined overtime + holiday work?
100 hours is a violation. The cap is "less than 100 hours" (100時間未満), so 99.5 is permitted, 100 is not.
How does the 80h rolling average actually get checked?
The Labor Standards Inspection Office computes every consecutive 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6-month window in the fiscal year and verifies that the average of overtime + holiday work hours per month stays at or below 80. Any single failing window is a violation.
Does paid leave count as a worked day for overtime calculations?
No. Paid leave days (有給休暇), childcare leave (育児休業), family-care leave (介護休業), and maternity leave (産休) are not worked days and do not generate overtime hours, even if scheduled hours had been planned.
What about commuting time, training time, and standby time?
Commuting time is generally not work time. Training that is mandatory or implicitly required by the employer is work time. Standby time during which the employee cannot freely use their time is work time. The Supreme Court has consistently treated “control of free use of time” as the test.
Are foreign-affiliated companies subject to these caps?
Yes. The Labor Standards Act applies to any employer whose business is conducted in Japan, regardless of corporate nationality. Foreign-headquartered employers operating through a Japanese branch or subsidiary are fully subject.
What happens if I exceed the cap by accident?
The Labor Standards Inspection Office typically issues a corrective guidance order (是正勧告) for first-time minor breaches, with criminal referral reserved for repeated or willful violations. Even an unintentional breach should be self-reported to the union or employee representative and addressed in the next 36 Agreement renewal.
Does this calculator work for industries with deferred application?
For drivers and doctors, the standard 720h annual cap is replaced by 960h or 1,860h depending on category. The single-month and rolling-average caps still apply. This calculator uses the standard caps; check your industry's specific rules in the MHLW handbook.
Important. This calculator implements the standard caps under Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act as reformed in April 2019. It is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Industry-specific rules (drivers, doctors, construction), company-specific work rules, and edge cases (mid-year hires, fixed-term contracts, leaves of absence) may produce different results. Consult a licensed sharoshi (社会保険労務士) for binding answers.