Is Rounding Down to 15 Minutes Illegal in Japan? Attendance Rounding Rules and Correct Handling

The rule is 1-minute units: wages must be paid in full

Article 24 of the Labor Standards Act requires wages to be paid in full. If you work 5 minutes, you've earned 5 minutes of wages, and cutting that off amounts to not paying part of your wages. So working time is, in principle, recorded and calculated in 1-minute units.

• Rounding down anything under 15 minutes each day: illegal.
• Rounding down overtime under 30 minutes each day: illegal.
• Recording in 1-minute units and calculating as is: in line with the rule, no problem.
• Rounding in the worker's favor (rounding up): no problem, because wages don't go down.

"15-minute units are a long-standing custom" or "that's how the time card system works" are no legal basis. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's guidelines on properly tracking working hours also call for start and end times to be confirmed through objective records.

Only one kind of rounding is allowed as an exception

As an exception, an administrative notice (Kihatsu No. 150, March 14, 1988) permits the following handling to simplify paperwork. The key is that it's done on the monthly total.

So a monthly overtime total of 23 hours 20 minutes can become 23 hours, and 23 hours 40 minutes can become 24 hours. Since it rounds both down and up, the idea is that it's unlikely to disadvantage workers over the long run. Daily rounding down isn't allowed because rounding only in one direction, again and again, always works against the worker.

Calculating the time lost to rounding

Rounding down to 15 minutes feels small day to day, but over months and years it adds up to an amount you can't ignore. If both clock-in and clock-out are rounded down, up to 28 minutes a day (14 minutes at each end) disappear.

The amounts are estimates using base hourly wage × 1.25 × annual hours. If the time cut off falls within scheduled hours, it's 1.0 times, and if it overlaps late-night hours, 1.5 times, so the actual difference varies.

The time limit for claiming unpaid wages is currently 3 years (set at 3 years for the time being for wages arising from April 2020 onward). Even when claiming retroactively, you first need objective records.

A practical approach at work

Even if you decide to record in 1-minute units, counting time after arriving early as working time creates other problems. In practice, the following approach is often used.

• Clock-ins before the start time count from the start time (you just came early and weren't working). If you were instructed to work, though, it's working time.
• Clock-outs after the end of work count from when the work actually finished. If overtime requires approval, pair this with not tacitly allowing unapproved overtime.
• If the system can only register in 15-minute units, standardize on rounding up.
• Use rounding (down under 30 minutes, up at 30 minutes or more) only on the monthly total.

1. 1

   Keep your own records in 1-minute units

   Objective traces work well: PC log-on and log-off times, building entry records, and your first and last messages in work chat. Even notes in a planner can serve as evidence if you keep them up every day.

2. 2

   Compare them with your pay slip

   Line up the actual and overtime hours calculated from your records against the hours on your pay slip. If they differ in the same direction each month, rounding is likely being applied.

3. 3

   If the gap continues, take your records and get advice

   Start with the department handling attendance. If that doesn't resolve it, the General Labor Consultation Corners at Labor Standards Inspection Offices offer free consultations.

Compare with and without rounding side by side

The Work Hours & Overtime Calculator lets you switch the rounding unit (1, 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes) and direction (Round down, Round to nearest, Round up). By changing only the unit on the same work data, you can see exactly how many minutes rounding removes.

1. 1

   First calculate in 1-minute units

   Enter your actual start time, end time and breaks to get actual hours without rounding. This is your true working time.

2. 2

   Switch to your company's rounding setting

   Switch to 15 minutes and Round down, and it shows the actual hours after rounding and the difference from the original.

3. 3

   Compare over a month

   Paste a month of data into the Monthly total tab to see the difference in the monthly total. You can also turn 30-minute rounding of the monthly total on and off to compare.

4. 4

   Convert to money

   Enter your hourly wage to see the difference as an amount including premiums. When raising it for discussion, money gets the point across better than time.

The thinking on fractions is similar to consumption tax calculations. Rounding on invoices also covers how choices between rounding off and rounding down accumulate into different amounts. For recording how you use your time day to day, see reviewing your time records.

FAQ

Is rounding down in 15-minute units illegal?

Rounding down each day is illegal. Under the principle of full wage payment in Article 24 of the Labor Standards Act, time worked is in principle calculated in 1-minute units, and cutting off even 5 or 10 minutes means unpaid wages. The only permitted exception is, on each monthly total of overtime, holiday and late-night work, rounding down under 30 minutes and rounding up 30 minutes or more to 1 hour.

I heard overtime under 30 minutes can be cut off. Is that true?

Only for the monthly total. An administrative notice (Kihatsu No. 150, March 14, 1988) allows, to simplify paperwork, rounding a fraction of under 1 hour in monthly overtime: under 30 minutes down and 30 minutes or more up to 1 hour. Saying "today's overtime was 20 minutes, so it's cut off" each day is outside the notice's scope and illegal.

Is rounding up a problem?

It doesn't raise an issue under Article 24 of the Labor Standards Act because wages don't go down. Rounding up to 15-minute units pays more than the actual working time, so it's lawful. But working time itself must still be tracked accurately, and actual hours need to be recorded for managing the limits under Article 36 agreements and for health management.

If rounding loses 15 minutes a day, how much is that over a year?

At 20 working days a month, it's 5 hours a month and 60 hours a year. At a base hourly wage of 1,700 yen × 1.25, that's about 127,500 yen a year. If both clock-in and clock-out are rounded down, it's up to 28 minutes a day, or 112 hours a year, worth about 238,000 yen. The time limit for claiming unpaid wages is currently 3 years, so you may be able to claim retroactively.

How can I check whether my time is being rounded?

Keep your own records in 1-minute units and compare them with the hours on your pay slip. PC log-on and log-off times, building entry records and work chat timestamps are useful objective records. If the gap goes the same direction each month, rounding is being applied. Switching the rounding unit between 1 and 15 minutes in the Work Hours & Overtime Calculator shows the difference in minutes and yen.