36 Agreements

This agreement is called "36 Agreements (Read: Sabu-roku kyotei)" because it is stipulated in Article 36 of the Labor Standards Law. The official name is "Notice of agreement regarding overtime and holiday work". The Labor Standards Law stipulates that working hours must be included in the "legal working hours" of eight hours a day and not more than 40 hours a week.

If employees work overtime or on holidays in excess of the legal working hours, the "36 Agreements" must be entered into.

Even companies that do not work overtime or on holidays may need to conclude 36 Agreements. For example, if you work seven hours a day and six days a week, excluding Sundays, the number of working hours per week would be 42 hours.

In this case, the total working hours per week would exceed the statutory working hours of 40 hours per week. Therefore, if an agreement of 36 Agreements is not concluded with a worker and submitted to the Labor Inspection Office in charge of each location, this would constitute a violation of the Labor Standards Act. If you violate the 36 Agreements, you will be imprisoned up to six months or fined up to 300,000 yen. In addition, if you only conclude the 36 Agreements and do not report it to the Labor Standards Inspection Office, you will be punished in the same way.

Furthermore, the conclusion of the 36 Agreements does not guarantee unlimited overtime. In cases where a worker is required to work in excess of the legal working hours, the time limit is set according to the work institution, such as "15 hours per week", "45 hours per month", "360 hours per year", etc. However, if there are special circumstances, a "special clause" may be established so that workers may work in excess of the time limit.