how are overtime laws applied for salary work?

10 comments

1. Ask them.

2. Hold up let me just have a look at your company’s work rules here. 🫳🏻🔮

3. What does your contract say? Is there some kind of overtime allowance built into your salary? I’ve heard a lot of companies do that here.

4. [deleted]

5. 4 hours a day

   40 hours a month

   360 hours a year

   ​

   Those are the limits. Most salaried jobs in Japan don’t have set hours. If a set schedule is not in your contract they can *ask* you to work the government maximum. When I say *ask* that means if you don’t do it, they will find legal ways to retaliate like never give you promotions and raises.

6. I read this as slavery work then looked at the sub and believed it. Started reading, then looked at the headline again to see salary.

7. You might have some monthly overtime included in your salary in your contract, but I doubt it’s more than 30-40, certainly not 60 hours:

   [https://www.generalunion.org/laws-and-rights/1814-overtime-included-in-salary](https://www.generalunion.org/laws-and-rights/1814-overtime-included-in-salary)

   In a contract it might be specified something like this:

   基本給 　　 X 円
   固定残業代 Y 円
   総支給額　 X+Y 円

   If your contract *really* doesn’t say anything about overtime, then the law applies (even if it says, if it’s “wrong” the law applies, but that’s a harder conversation). Keep a detailed log of the overtime you work for a month (enter time, exit time, times for a break), then call hello work, the general union, and/or HR to ask for overtime pay and see how it goes from there. Overtime work is to be paid at least at 1.25x the normal rate.*

   What you didn’t state is your goals; is working 9-11h/day for a couple of years okay if you make big bucks? Or would you prefer to work 8h/day fixed? Is career advancement in this sort of company something you want?

   *except if you are officially a manager. In this one normal job they wanted me to work as a normal worker but officially have the manager title. For a second I was confused, until I understood the implications and was like HA NOPE.

8. Fixed salary job types with no additional compensation for overtime do exist. Whether you have it or not should be indicated in your contract. Even in such cases, companies are still supposed to log your hours worked and OT shouldn’t exceed the maximum permitted by law which is 60 or 45? Can’t remember.

9. Check this site, the info is pretty clear.

   [http://japan-payroll.com/overtime-pay-of-employees/](http://japan-payroll.com/overtime-pay-of-employees/)

   BTW how are you required to work 9-11 hours per day? What if you just stood up and walked out at lets say a reasonable hour of 6:30pm? (assuming 9am start)

   I used to be one of the first to leave at my previous employer, more that I had to take night calls with the USA head office, but fuck me if I am going to not get at least a few hours of downtime in the evening.

   Topic drift but the head office could basically track productivity for global offices using certain metrics, and lets just say Japan was not near the top. HQ would always ask why certain staff were doing OT during off season months (our work was somewhat cyclical)

10. It’s not possible to answer clearly without seeing your contract and/or company rules of employment.

    Basically, though, any hours over 8 in a day (and remember, lunch is not counted as a working hour) are considered to be overtime and should be paid at your hourly rate plus 25% (125% base). If the employee works overtime between 22:00 and 05:00, an additional 25% of base is tacked on (150% base) – this additional 25% is required for these late night hours regardless of whether they are OT or not.

    Overtime wage for salaried worker is calculated on the base hourly wage. The hourly wage is calculated by one of two formulas depending on whether salary is monthly or annual:

    Monthly salary: [Monthly basic salary (including monthly allowances) ÷ number of scheduled working hours per month]

    For the monthly salary calculation, working hours are calculated on the monthly average – [(365-total number of holidays per year) ÷ 12 x number of scheduled working hours per day] – NOT the actual number per month.

    Annual salary: [Annual salary (including monthly allowances) ÷ regular working hours per year]

    If you are a manager or supervisor, you do not qualify for overtime pay – but you also must be performing managerial duties in fact, not just hold a manager’s title. McDonald’s famously lost a case where one of their “managers” sued for two years of unpaid OT, citing that while he held a manager’s title, he was just a regular employee. Managers are still entitled to the extra 25% for hours worked between 22:00 and 05:00.

    For both calculations, the following allowances are NOT included: family allowance, commuting allowance, separate allowance, child education allowance, housing allowance, temporary wages (such as extra pay for a specific task), and wages (paid in arrears) for previous pay periods.

    Many contracts/positions also have overtime included in the monthly compensation, a practice commonly known as “minashi zangyo”. A fixed amount of overtime (30 hours is most common) is paid via an allowance in addition to the base salary. The amount of the minashi zangyo allowance must equal or exceed the overtime pay rate – for example if the average hourly wage is 1000 yen and the amount of MZ overtime is 30 hours, the allowance must be *at least* 37,500 yen (1,000*1.25*30). The base hours must also exceed the minimum wage – many companies have found themselves in hot water when they redid their wage system with a minashi zangyo clause, and took their employees’ base hourly wage below minimum.

    Your company rules and/or your contract must comply with all of the above.