Your rights as a foreign worker in Japan: contracts, overtime and unpaid wages

Overtime pay in Japan is at least 25% extra for every hour beyond 8 a day or 40 a week, and at least 50% extra once overtime passes 60 hours in a month. Late-night work adds 25%, and work on your legal holiday pays 35%. These rules come from the Labor Standards Act (労働基準法), which protects you whatever your nationality or visa. All as of October 2026.

This page explains the published rules. It isn’t legal advice: for your own case, use the free hotlines below or a lawyer (弁護士).

Do Japanese labor laws apply to foreign workers?

Yes. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省) says in its guidelines for employers of foreign workers that labor and social insurance laws apply to foreign workers too, and employers must follow them. The same guidelines say employers must not treat you differently because of your nationality in wages, hours or other conditions.

Your status of residence (在留資格) limits what kind of work you can do. It doesn’t remove your rights as an employee.

What must my employment contract in Japan say?

When you sign, your employer must give you your working conditions, usually as a working conditions notice (労働条件通知書). The core items must be in writing. Fax or email is allowed only if you ask for it and can print it.

The written items are:

• the contract period, and for fixed-term contracts, the renewal rules and any cap on renewals
• your place of work and duties
• start and end times, whether there is overtime, breaks, days off and leave
• how your wage is decided, calculated and paid, the cutoff date and the payday
• how you can resign and the grounds for dismissal

The labor ministry asks employers to explain these in your native language or plain Japanese, and to explain what is deducted for tax, social insurance and anything else. That way you know what you will actually receive: see take-home pay in Japan.

If the real conditions differ from what you were told, you can cancel the contract at once. If you moved home for the job and go back within 14 days, the employer must pay your travel costs.

What changed in April 2024?

Four items were added to the written statement:

The conversion right comes when your fixed-term contracts with one employer pass 5 years in total. If an employer adds or shortens a renewal cap after your first contract, it must explain why in advance.

How many hours can I be made to work in Japan?

The legal limit is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, not counting breaks. You must get at least 1 day off a week, or 4 days off in 4 weeks.

Anything beyond that is overtime, and it is only legal if your workplace has a 36 agreement (36協定, saburoku kyōtei). That is a written agreement between the employer and the majority union, or a representative of the majority of workers, filed with the labor standards inspection office. No filed agreement means no legal overtime.

What are the overtime limits?

The last two limits apply even if the agreement says otherwise, and breaking them is a crime. Separate rules apply to driving jobs such as truck and taxi drivers (a 960-hour yearly cap under special clauses), doctors, and research and development of new products.

Flextime and variable-hours systems change how hours are counted over a period. Ask your employer which system applies and look for it in your work rules (就業規則).

How is overtime pay calculated in Japan?

Premiums are added to your normal hourly wage. Family and commuting allowances are left out of that base.

Example on a ¥1,500 hourly base. Normal overtime pays at least ¥1,875 an hour. Past 60 hours in the month, ¥2,250. Legal-holiday work, ¥2,025.

The 50% rate has applied at small and medium companies too since 1 April 2023. Before that, only large companies paid it. Hours worked on your legal holiday don’t count toward the 60, but hours on other days off do.

With a labor-management agreement, an employer can give you paid substitute leave (代替休暇) instead of the extra part of the 60-hour premium, if you take that leave.

Paid annual leave and the minimum wage have their own guides: paid leave in Japan and minimum wage in Japan.

What can I do about unpaid wages in Japan?

Wages must be paid in cash or by an approved method, directly to you, in full, at least once a month, on a fixed date. Deductions are allowed only where the law permits, such as tax and social insurance, or under a written agreement with the workers’ majority.

You can claim unpaid wages for 3 years from when they were due (5 years for a retirement allowance). When you leave a job and ask for it, your employer must pay what it owes within 7 days. See quitting a job in Japan for the rest of that process.

Which practices against foreign workers are illegal?

Some practices hit foreign workers more often. The law and the labor ministry’s guidelines are clear on these:

• Keeping your passport or residence card. The guidelines say employers should not keep them. For technical interns (技能実習生), keeping them against the intern’s will is punishable by up to 6 months’ imprisonment or a fine of up to ¥300,000.
• Forced savings (強制貯金). An employer must not make you sign a savings plan tied to your job, or hold your savings under one. It can hold savings only at your own request, under a filed agreement, and must return them when you ask.
• Penalty fees for quitting. A contract must not fix a penalty or set damages in advance if you break it, such as a fee for leaving early.
• Taking debts out of your wages. An employer must not offset a loan or advance given on condition that you work (前借金) against your pay.
• Unfair deductions for housing. The guidelines say amounts deducted for meals or housing should take the actual cost into account and must not be unreasonable.
• Forced labor. Making you work through violence, threats, confinement or other unfair restraint is banned. Technical interns also can’t be unfairly stopped from going out.

Where can I get help in my own language?

All of these are run by or for public bodies.

Both ministry lines close from 29 December to 3 January, and days vary by language.

Daytime foreign workers’ line, other languages: Chinese 0570-001-702, Portuguese -703, Spanish -704, Tagalog -705, Vietnamese -706, Nepali -708 (all weekdays); Myanmar -707 (Tue, Wed, Fri); Korean -709 (Tue to Fri); Thai -712 and Indonesian -715 (Tue, Thu); Khmer -716 (Wed); Mongolian -718 (Fri).

Free evening and weekend hotline, other languages: Chinese 0120-531-402, Portuguese -403, Spanish -404, Tagalog -405, Vietnamese -406, Myanmar -407, Nepali -408, Korean 0120-613-801, Thai -802, Indonesian -803, Khmer -804, Mongolian -805.

The labor standards inspection office (労働基準監督署) is where you report violations, such as unpaid overtime. The hotlines give advice. 法テラス (Japan Legal Support Center) explains the legal system and can arrange a three-way call with an interpreter. If you live in Japan lawfully, your income is under its limit (about ¥182,000 a month for one person, about ¥200,200 in large cities like Tokyo and Osaka) and your savings are under its limit too, you may get free legal consultations (無料法律相談) through its civil legal aid.

Use the official numbers above rather than ones found in ads or social media posts. For common tricks aimed at newcomers, see scams targeting foreigners.

More guides

Paid leave in Japan · Minimum wage in Japan · Quitting a job on a work visa · Take-home pay · Specified Skilled Worker visa