Night-duty (shukujitchoku) permission in medical and care settings: what kind of duty qualifies?

In short: To take night-time or holiday duty at a medical institution or care facility out of the working-hours rules as "night/day duty (shukujitchoku)," you need the permission of the director of the labour standards inspection office (Labor Standards Act, Article 41, item 3; Enforcement Ordinance of the Act, Article 23). Permission is limited to intermittent work with ordinarily almost no need to work, such as scheduled rounds, receiving urgent calls and documents, and standing by for emergencies (Notice Hatsuki No. 17 of 13 September 1947). Even if it is labelled "night duty," if the reality is ordinary medical care or nursing, permission cannot be obtained and the time is treated as working time. There is a separate detailed standard for physicians (Notice Kihatsu 0701 No. 8 of 1 July 2019). This article sets out, with a practical eye, the permission standards and application, the post-permission work design, and the effect on premium wages.

"I heard that if we make on-call duty into night duty we don't need to pay overtime," and "should a care facility's night work be night duty?" — these are questions we often hear from the owners and managers of clinics, hospitals and care facilities. This page is for medical and care operators who place staff at night or on holidays, and sets out the permission standards, the key points of the application, and the post-permission work design. Whether permission is granted is decided by the labour standards inspection office, and the medical judgment about night-time treatment arrangements and staffing is made by the operator; this article focuses on the labour thinking that comes before that.

How do night/day duty and ordinary work differ in the treatment of working time?

Even where staff are "at the facility at night or on a holiday," ordinary work and permitted night/day duty are treated completely differently under the Labor Standards Act.

Aspect	Ordinary work (night/day shift)	Night/day duty (where permission is granted)
Actual work	Ordinary treatment, nursing, care and monitoring	Scheduled rounds, receiving urgent calls and documents, standing by for emergencies, etc.
Working time	Counts as working time	Exempt from the rules on working hours, breaks and days off
Late-night premium (10 p.m.–5 a.m.)	25% or more required	In principle not required (not working time)
Overtime / holiday premium	Required (a 36 Agreement is also needed)	In principle not required (not working time)
Permission / filing	Not required (managed as working time)	Permission of the director of the labour standards inspection office required
Pay	Ordinary wage plus premium	Night-duty / day-duty allowance (with a minimum, below)

The basis on which night/day duty is exempt from the working-hours rules is Article 41, item 3 of the Labor Standards Act. It provides that the rules on working hours, breaks and days off do not apply to a person engaged in surveillance or intermittent work for whom the employer has obtained the permission of the administrative agency. For night duty and day duty, Article 23 of the Enforcement Ordinance provides that, where permission is obtained from the director of the labour standards inspection office by Form No. 10 for intermittent work, workers may be engaged notwithstanding Article 32 (statutory working hours). The night-shift/night-duty distinction is the same issue at a disability group home; see night shifts and night duty at a group home differ completely for labour management.

Where do the standards for granting night/day duty permission come from?

The general standards for night/day duty permission are set out in Notice Hatsuki No. 17 of 13 September 1947 (standards for permitting night/day duty). Roughly the following four points are premised.

Item	General permission standard (Notice Hatsuki No. 17)
Content of work	A duty with ordinarily almost no need to work. The worker does not perform the ordinary duties, and is limited to scheduled rounds, receiving urgent documents and calls, standing by for emergencies, and the like
Allowance	The minimum amount of the allowance per night/day duty must not be less than one-third of the average daily wage per person paid to workers of the same kind
Frequency	In principle, night duty is limited to once a week and day duty to once a month
Sleep	For night duty, adequate sleeping facilities must be provided

Permission is not granted mechanically based on what is written in the application. The labour standards inspection office judges each case on the basis of the actual work. Duty at a care facility that frequently involves assistance and monitoring at night, or on-call duty that continues ordinary treatment of patients, is unlikely to meet these requirements and generally does not qualify. For how the allowance relates to premium pay, see also how much does it cost to entrust payroll to a Shakai Hoken Roumushi.

How did physicians' night-duty permission change with the work-style reform?

For physicians, a detailed standard is set out in addition to the general one (Notice Kihatsu 0701 No. 8 of 1 July 2019, "On the standards for permitting night/day duty of physicians, nurses and others"). The key points are as follows.

• It must be duty after being completely released from the ordinary working-hours constraint
• In addition to general night/day duty, the physician is limited to light or short-duration work requiring no special measures (examination by interview, instructions to nurses, minor treatment, and the like), and can secure sufficient sleep at night
• Time that does not meet the above and can be said to be an extension of ordinary treatment is treated as working time

This standard is supplemented by Notice Kikanhatsu 0331 No. 1 of 31 March 2021 (reference material) and Notice Kikanhatsu 0115 No. 2 of 15 January 2024 (partial amendment). In addition, the upper limit on physicians' overtime took effect on 1 April 2024. Time for which night-duty permission is granted is not counted in the hours under this upper limit; however, even with permission, time actually spent on ordinary treatment and the like is working time and is subject to wages. The idea that "because there is permission, working-hours management is unnecessary" is mistaken. For night duty and nurses' social insurance when opening a clinic, see labour and night duty when opening a clinic; for on-call allowances in home nursing, see on-call allowances in home nursing and conversion to monthly pay.

What are the unpaid-wage risks of night duty without permission?

If you have workers on night duty without permission, or call it "night duty" while the reality is ordinary work and do not pay premiums, that time is judged to be working time and becomes subject to unpaid-wage claims. The likely contents are as follows.

• Late-night premium (25% or more): for late-night work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. (Labor Standards Act, Article 37, paragraph 3)
• Overtime / holiday premium: the premium for overtime beyond the statutory hours (8 hours a day, 40 hours a week) or work on a statutory holiday (Article 37, paragraph 1; concluding and filing a 36 Agreement is also premised)
• Treatment of hand-waiting time: time on standby ready to be called, and nap time with an obligation to respond, can count as working time (hand-waiting time) even without actual work

The extinctive prescription of a wage claim is, for the time being, three years rather than five (Labor Standards Act, Article 115 and Supplementary Provisions). Because three years' worth of premium wages may be claimed together, the premise is to match the figures on the schedule with the reality and record start and end times objectively. Handling an individual unpaid-wage claim is the work of an attorney and is outside the scope of this article.

Who is responsible for the application, the work design and disputes?

The situations around night/day duty divide by who decides.

What is done	Whose responsibility
Deciding and granting whether night/day duty permission can be obtained	Labour standards inspection office (the operator applies)
Medical judgment such as night-time treatment arrangements and staffing	Operator (medical institution / care facility)
Putting in order work rules, a night-duty regulation, the 36 Agreement and attendance; calculating premium wages	Shakai Hoken Roumushi (this office)
Claims for unpaid wages, disputes, labour tribunal proceedings and litigation	Attorney

Putting night/day duty labour matters in order is the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi. This office handles designing work that matches the reality, putting in order the night-duty regulation, work rules and the 36 Agreement, building the attendance-recording structure, and supporting preparation of the permission application (Form No. 10). Whether to grant permission is decided by the labour standards inspection office, and disputes over unpaid wages are handled by an attorney, so these are separated as different roles.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 do?

四葉社会保険労務士事務所, in Kohinata, Bunkyo City, handles sorting out the reality of night/day duty, putting in order the night-duty regulation, work rules, the 36 Agreement and a variable working-hours system, designing attendance management, calculating premium wages, and supporting the permission application. For labour management in care and disability welfare, see labour management for care and disability welfare; for how to choose a variable working-hours system, see how to choose between a variable working-hours system and flextime. Consultation is free. For fees, see the fee schedule; for frequently asked questions, see the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Q. If we call on-call duty "night duty," do the late-night premium and overtime become unnecessary?
A. No. It is judged by the reality, not the label. Night/day duty permission can be obtained only for intermittent work with ordinarily almost no need to work, and for night duty only where sufficient sleep can be secured (Notice Hatsuki No. 17). If the reality is ordinary treatment or care, that time is working time subject to premium wages.

Q. If we have night-duty permission, may the time actually worked also be unpaid?
A. No. Permission is an exemption for time with ordinarily no need to work. Even with permission, time actually spent on ordinary treatment, procedures or care is working time, and the portion falling in the late-night or overtime hours must be paid a premium.

Q. Did physicians' night duty change with the 2024 work-style reform?
A. The upper limit on physicians' overtime took effect on 1 April 2024. Time with night-duty permission is not counted toward that upper limit, but time that can be said to be an extension of ordinary treatment is working time. The detailed standard for physicians is set out in Notice Kihatsu 0701 No. 8 of 1 July 2019.

Q. How much should the night-duty allowance be?
A. Under the general permission standard, the minimum per night/day duty must not be less than one-third of the average daily wage per person paid to workers of the same kind (Notice Hatsuki No. 17). The specific amount varies with the establishment's wage level, so it is calculated from the wage ledger.

Sources

• Labor Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947), Article 37 (premium wages; late-night 25% or more under paragraph 3), Article 41, item 3 (exemption for persons engaged in surveillance or intermittent work), Article 115 and Supplementary Provisions (extinctive prescription of wage claims; three years for the time being)
• Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act (Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance No. 23 of 1947), Article 23 (permission for intermittent work in night or day duty; Form No. 10)
• General night/day duty permission standard = Notice Hatsuki No. 17 of 13 September 1947 (ordinarily almost no need to work; the allowance is one-third or more of the average daily wage per person; night duty is limited to once a week and day duty to once a month; adequate sleeping facilities for night duty)
• On the standards for permitting night/day duty of physicians, nurses and others = Notice Kihatsu 0701 No. 8 of 1 July 2019 (complete release from ordinary duty; light or short-duration work; sufficient sleep). Supplemented by Notice Kikanhatsu 0331 No. 1 of 31 March 2021 (reference material) and Notice Kikanhatsu 0115 No. 2 of 15 January 2024 (partial amendment)
• The upper limit on physicians' overtime took effect on 1 April 2024. The treatment of night-duty-permitted time in the calculation is confirmed from materials published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (as of September 2026)
• Whether hand-waiting time and nap time count as working time depends on whether the worker is "under the employer's direction and supervision"; this is a general proposition based on administrative interpretation and case law

This article does not decide whom to consult. Putting in order the night-duty regulation, work rules and the 36 Agreement, designing attendance management, calculating premium wages, and supporting the permission application are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi. Whether permission is granted is decided by the labour standards inspection office, and medical judgment such as night-time treatment arrangements is made by the operator. Claims for unpaid wages and disputes are the work of an attorney. For fees when consulting 四葉社会保険労務士事務所, see the fee schedule; for frequently asked questions, see the FAQ.

This article is general information. A judgment on individual circumstances is made by a qualified professional after a consultation. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi, Gyoseishoshi, Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).