My job in Japan(I’m new to this work place) my boss clocked me out at 1pm without saying anything While I was still working for extra 10 mins since it was busy. Should I tell my job instructor who’s training me that my boss wants me to leave at 1pm ahead of time? Or whats a good way to ask? I think it’s not fair that other people can clock out after they finish their job except for me. They have me do stuff that I haven’t done before so it took some more time.
34 comments
That should not be allowed nor is it legal, but it might be normalized at your workplace. Ask your job instructor I guess, but for a mere 10 minutes you might want to think about if it’s something you want to bring up at the moment
What you boss did is one of those things that are completely illegal and perfectly normalized. So, the question is how badly do you need this job? Do you want to keep it? Only you can decide that.
Start audibly preparing to leave at 1. Like, when it’s 12:30, apologise that you need to leave exactly at 1. You might get looked down upon but the best chance you have is by setting the bar high early.
If he clocked me out, then I would take that as a signal that my work is finished and I’d leave. But that’s just me maybe. 🤷♀️
Sure, you can bring it up. I’d do it through email so you have a record of it if you decide to go to the labor department. All evidence gathering is on you in Japan.
If the employee falsifies the working hours to get more overtime pay, it’s fraud (Article 246(1) of the Penal Code “刑法第246条第1項”).
If the boss falsifies the working hours to get the employee to do more unpaid overtime it’s a labor dispute, which in serious cases may fall under extortion (Article 223(1) of the Penal Code “刑法第223条第1項”).
https://senri.vbest.jp/columns/general_corporate/g_labor/4303/
Looks like he is checking if you’re a pushover or not. If you don’t act or say anything he’s gonna see how far he can take it. Next time he clocks you out, get up and leave the building.
Depending on your company rules, your working hours are measured in 15 or 30 mins intervals. If you only worked 10 mins OT, then no wrong doing. But you should be clocking out yourself really. Is it really worth starting something over 10 mins?
Ask him why he clocked you out. Doesn’t need to be confrontational. Then you can stop guessing, or making any assumptions that could backfire.
“My boss seemed to have clocked me out 10 minutes ago, I should go now to not get him in trouble”
OP, what does your contract say? Your working hours must be accurate. I like the idea mentioned by another redditor – “to not get your boss in trouble by overwork”. This situation could be talked with your supervisor
I’m not sure what the policy is at your company. I’m a public servant and we only get paid extra per hour exact, so if you work 1-59 minutes extra it doesn’t get counted for extra pay
Don’t work if you aren’t being paid?
If your clock out time is 1pm, finish your current tasks by 1pm. If they have some issue, ask if they can write out what they mean so you understand properly. Now you have it in writing.
What kind of work is this? If they are only going to pay you to be there between certain times, …
There have been a lot of good suggestions on how you can approach this on this thread. You just have to pick which you feel works best for you.
Another suggestion would be, when you’re done with your work 10 mins past, go up and clock out… Where you’d ‘discover’ you’ve been clocked out incorrectly, and ask them to update your clock out time for the day. If your boss declines to do so, ask him for the reason why, as you have been working and believe that it is important that your working time is accurately recorded (#). But there is no need to “fight” this, and acknowledge that you understand.
Depending on what he says, and does, you can then decide what to do moving forward. If he sticks to clocking you out on the dot, you will just have to stop what you’re doing and continue the next day. Or, if he corrects the time, then make sure you do so each and every time instead.
(#) Aside from pay matters, it’s also possibly important for insurance and liability reasons. If you’re hurt or injured, or inadvertently caused some damage while off the clock, it could be a problem for you
10 minutes? Does ten minutes even count as overtime here?!
OP wants to get paid for the work they do… honestly such an entitled generation I can’t imagine going to work and expecting to be paid for my time there
You need to communicate with either your boss or instructor about the clock out process.
You need to ask who is responsible for the clock out process, as you need to know if you should be doing it yourself or if you boss will do that every day. Next simply state that if someone else is doing it that you need to know the expected clock out time each day so you can finish working at the correct time.
If they ask you to do anything illegal it might be wise to get it in writing, at the end of the day simple send an email (or line I guess if you don’t communicate in email) stating: Today we discussed X and you told me Y, please confirm if I have understood correctly. Thank you
Are you new ? Roll with it. Wait until you drink once together. See if there’s a good vibe. You have kind of “paid in” by that. Respect could be coming your way. Or it’s a sh*t company.
It is indeed unusual for your boss to clock out for you, however I don’t think this is of a level where you should be very concerned with either the fact that you got clocked out on your finishing time or be concerned about bringing up that you have been clocked out. If your workplace and your colleagues have any semblance of professionalism, simply tell them that you have been clocked out. Just something as simple as “Oh sorry, I was just clocked out, I will have to go now.”
You don’t need to overcomplicate your explanation, play it up or make a big fuss of it. Just go.
If an extra 10 minutes at a new job is stressing you out this much…
if you wanna live here. you proberly gonna have to get use to that, if you wanna fight it you gonna have a bad time. if you every have read anything bad about Japan before coming here, i would strongly suggest to believe most of it.
Were you going for 10 min overtime pay?
I’m going to be quite direct here. Most of these people want you to defy the system because they want to see someone do it.
Half of them probably won’t dare to do it. They’re edging you on. The people who are claiming that this will get worse – if they’ve been doing it to others in the company, nothing you do now will change the trajectory. It’s already been done to others.
10 mins is not a hill to die on. Get some levels of trust and relationship with and them find a good setting to talk to your supervisor about it.
And based on the questions you’ve been asking, you don’t seem like you’re going to get the conversation right.
If you really want to – like some of the suggestions, act dumb and ask like a stupid foreigner. But if they aren’t gonna change it or they side step the question, you have to decide if you want the job or you want the 10 mins.
Your boss is Japanese?
It sucks to work freelance until I read a story like this. If these are the work rules in Japan, then I am unemployable
I am definitely going home at the time you stop paying me
Just clock in and have a nice bathroom break. It’ll all even out.
You’ve been given lots of advice already but just in case :3 join General Union https://generalunion.org
If you start getting mad for 10 unpaid minutes while you’re on training, good luck with your career in Japan. It will only get worse from here.
I work for a foreign company where I have to get approval BEFORE starting any overtime, and state the reason why. Meanwhile my bonus and evolution prospects are based on my achievements. In other words if you regularly ask for more money because you were too slow to get the job done on time, no bonus or promotion for you. So what you usually do is stay overtime for free so you’re not ruining your evaluation.
Did your boss physically clock you out, or, when you went to clock out at 1:10 it read 1:00?
The reason I ask is some workplaces have prescribed blocks they pay in. My old workplace was every 15 minutes. So if I clocked out at 1:14 I got paid till 1:00, which lead to a line at the front door at 5:05 to clock out (because they subtracted 5 in the morning and added 5 in the afternoon to account for walking to the locker room, changing into your uniform, and getting to your desk and the reverse – so clocked time was actually 8:25-5:05 – if you clocked in at 8:26 you had to be clocked in till 5:20 to cover a “full work day”).
“My boss clocked me out” LMAO I was ready to say fukn hit him back!! Haha!
I leave when the time on my contract tells me to….any boss wants to confront me about it, I’m available for a friendly chat at any time. Fuck that. Japan HAS labour laws. Japan HAS unions…join a good one and nip this shite in the bud
Welcome to japan!
“I see you made a mistake by clocking me out while I was still working. Do you want to adjust my time, or should I finish 10 minutes early tomorrow to make up the unpaid work time?”
If their response is unsatisfactory, start looking for a new place of employment. I know from experience that if they are shady in one area, they’re not gonna be shy about breaking the law in other areas too.
Personally, I’d go directly to your boss. People in Japan are famous for being non-confrontational. You actually being like “Hi, I noticed you clocked me out before I was done with my work. May I ask why?” could be enough for them to stop because a. it shows them that you’re confrontational and b. it shows them that you’re paying attention. It could also do absolutely nothing. But, that’s the first step I’d take anyway.
If you get clocked out, just leave and go home. 🫤 Next time it happens, don’t even question it, just go home.
what you do is draw 3 horizontal lines over the clock-out time, then write the correct time next to it and stamp it with your hanko. it’s the japanese way.