The reason why "no overtime pay even if you work an average of 10 hours or more per day"
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2025 10:01 am
Since March 11, local government employees in the Tohoku region have been forced to work around the clock in the name of a state of emergency. Looking at it from the perspective of an office worker, some may say, "We are protected on a daily basis, so it is only natural that we should work at a time like this," but some employees have been forced to work horrific amounts of unpaid overtime.
For example, a certain town employee worked himself to the bone under orders from above, and as a result, he worked more than 300 hours of overtime in one month, and by the time four months had passed since the disaster, his total had exceeded 1,000 hours. That's an average of more than 10 hours a day, working all the time except when he was sleeping. It goes without saying that these are insane work hours, but what's even more surprising is that all of them were treated as unpaid overtime.
Even though civil servants are often subject remove background image to scrutiny, it is too cruel to not provide any allowance at all. Naturally, this employee complained to his superiors, but they ignored him, saying that it was an emergency and everyone was doing the same thing. Is this really acceptable?
"There's no way that's acceptable. It's a complete violation of the Labor Standards Act. In the first place, even local government employees are subject to the Labor Standards Act, and it is their natural right to be paid for the work they do."
This is the explanation given by Goto Hiroshi of the Tokyo Eastern Law Office.
According to Goto, while national civil servants in the general category are exempt from the Labor Standards Act, local civil servants are generally subject to the same Labor Standards Act as private companies. Therefore, even if there is a temporary need due to a disaster or other reason, it is natural that they should be paid.
Therefore, this employee has a natural right to claim compensation for the 1,000 hours of overtime work from the local government where he works, and if we do a simple calculation, the amount would be equivalent to 1.5 million yen even if the hourly wage is 1,500 yen. Even if it was an emergency situation, this is too excessive, and since it also involves human rights issues, it is almost certain that he would win if he were to file a lawsuit.
For example, a certain town employee worked himself to the bone under orders from above, and as a result, he worked more than 300 hours of overtime in one month, and by the time four months had passed since the disaster, his total had exceeded 1,000 hours. That's an average of more than 10 hours a day, working all the time except when he was sleeping. It goes without saying that these are insane work hours, but what's even more surprising is that all of them were treated as unpaid overtime.
Even though civil servants are often subject remove background image to scrutiny, it is too cruel to not provide any allowance at all. Naturally, this employee complained to his superiors, but they ignored him, saying that it was an emergency and everyone was doing the same thing. Is this really acceptable?
"There's no way that's acceptable. It's a complete violation of the Labor Standards Act. In the first place, even local government employees are subject to the Labor Standards Act, and it is their natural right to be paid for the work they do."
This is the explanation given by Goto Hiroshi of the Tokyo Eastern Law Office.
According to Goto, while national civil servants in the general category are exempt from the Labor Standards Act, local civil servants are generally subject to the same Labor Standards Act as private companies. Therefore, even if there is a temporary need due to a disaster or other reason, it is natural that they should be paid.
Therefore, this employee has a natural right to claim compensation for the 1,000 hours of overtime work from the local government where he works, and if we do a simple calculation, the amount would be equivalent to 1.5 million yen even if the hourly wage is 1,500 yen. Even if it was an emergency situation, this is too excessive, and since it also involves human rights issues, it is almost certain that he would win if he were to file a lawsuit.