Working Hours Regulations and Telework-Part 2

June 27, 2024 ［No.124-2024］

Ph.D., Mitsuhide SHIRAKI
Professor Emeritus, Waseda University

 

 

In the last newsletter, I introduced two exceptions to the working hour regulations under the Labor Standards Act (management level employees and discretionary labor system). In this time, I introduce the third exception.

The third is deemed working hours. Under the Labor Standards Act, workers are deemed to have worked for the agreed hours if they spend some or all of the working hours outside the office, and if it is difficult to calculate the actual working hours. Telework (work from home) is also “working outside the office” and therefore can be used effectively.

Note that deemed working hours is applicable only “when it is difficult to calculate the actual working hours”. Many court rulings have rejected the applicability of deemed working hours because the actual working hours could be calculated using a time card or by making employees carry a mobile phone. It seems that there are only a few cases where deemed working hours has been adopted.

In telework, PC-based or mobile phone-based working time management is extremely easy with modern technology. Therefore, application of deemed working hours to telework may become rare in the future.

I know people who work from home four days a week or so. Their start and end times are managed based on when they log in and out of their PC. They are given an hour lunch break.

Being logged in does not necessarily mean they are working, but this is true for office workers who are in the office. Management of actual condition of telework will require a different management strategy aside from working time management.

It is also necessary to consider telework from the perspective of the regulations on the upper working hour limit. If a person commutes, he/she must leave the office at the lights-out time, before the last train, or before the building doors close. These situations have prevented long working hours to some degree. Telework, on the other hand, has none of these situations. Employees can work early in the morning or at midnight. It is true that employees can concentrate on work better after their spouse or children have gone to bed. This, however, is a viable option only when the total hours of work are reasonable.

Regulations imposed by labor laws are extremely important in order to prevent deaths from overwork, overwork resulting in suicide, and overwork resulting in accidents. In 2014, the Act Promoting Measures to Prevent Death and Injury from Overwork was enacted and the upper working hours limit was set. Then, “the 2024 Problem” emerged, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, in the construction and transport industries. Both the act of 2014 and “the 2024 Problem” are very closely related to the working hours regulations.

We need to closely watch how telework is carried out in order to prevent it from being a hotbed for long working hours.

(Note: Most descriptions of telework and working hours in this article are based on Chapter 4 of my book Henkaku seyo! Kigyou Jinji-bu―Telewa-ku ga Motarashita Hatarakikata Kakumei―[The HR Department Must Transform! Workstyle Revolution Brought by Telework] [Waseda Shinsho, Waseda University Press, 2023].)