Working hours for driving-school instructors and examiners during the busy season — the 36 Agreement and variable working-hours system

In short: For driving-school instructors and examiners, stay within the 36 Agreement limits (in principle 45 hours a month and 360 a year; even with a special clause, 720 a year) while using a one-year variable working-hours system to assign more scheduled hours to peaks and fewer to quiet periods. Design holiday swaps, substitute days off and breaks together.

System and primary-source check: October 12, 2026. This guide is for operators and managers of designated driving schools where skills instruction, classroom lessons and skill tests concentrate in the February–March graduation season and summer camps. It focuses on working-hour design under the Labor Standards Act and does not cover the public licensing of schools or instructor/examiner qualifications.

How much overtime is allowed in a driving school's busy season?

Overtime faces two constraints: the ceiling set in the 36 Agreement (Labor Standards Act, Article 36) and the absolute statutory upper limits. A busy season does not allow unlimited extension.

Category	Basis	Limit
Principal limit	Article 36(4)	45 hours/month, 360 hours/year (42/month, 320/year where a one-year variable system has a target period over three months)
Special-clause limit	Article 36(5)	Up to 720 hours/year; the 45-hour month (42 under a one-year system) may be exceeded only six months a year
Absolute limit on actual hours	Article 36(6)	Under 100 hours in any single month and an average of 80 hours or less over 2–6 months, holiday work included

These rules took effect on April 1, 2019 (April 1, 2020 for small and medium-sized enterprises), and Article 119 provides up to six months’ imprisonment (拘禁刑, terminology effective 1 June 2025) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen for breaches including Article 36(6). A predictable annual busy season alone is not treated as a sufficient basis for the special clause. Confirm with a qualified professional and the authority whether the circumstances meet Article 36(5), such as a substantial increase in workload that cannot normally be foreseen. Separate rules apply to people whose main work is driving a vehicle, but whether instructors and examiners fall into that category depends on their actual duties and must be checked case by case; this guide assumes the general limits. For the basics of concluding and filing a 36 Agreement, see how far overtime can go under a 36 Agreement.

How do you choose between the one-year and one-month variable working-hours systems?

A variable working-hours system lets you assign more scheduled hours on busy days and fewer on slow days, provided the average stays within 40 hours a week over a set period. Hours added to a busy day do not count as overtime, as long as they stay within the system's limits.

System	Basis	When it fits, and key points
One-month	Article 32-2	When peaks and troughs are predictable within a month. Set by work rules or a labor-management agreement; average 40 hours a week over a period of up to one month
One-year	Article 32-4; Enforcement Regulations Article 12-4	Suited to schools skewed toward February–March or summer. File the labor-management agreement and work rules with the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office

The one-year system has detailed limits. A day may not exceed 10 hours or a week 52 hours; where the target period runs over three months, working days are capped at 280 a year, and weeks over 48 hours must be no more than three consecutive weeks and no more than three per three-month block. Consecutive working days are capped at six in principle, though a designated "especially busy period" may extend this — if a labor-management agreement so provides — up to the point that still secures one day off per week. For designing higher scheduled hours in peak months, also see choosing between the variable working-hours system and flextime.

How do you manage camp instructors' on-duty time and breaks?

At camps, standby and travel fall between skills lessons, classroom work and tests, so on-duty time tends to grow long. Working time is time under the employer's direction and control, and includes "waiting time on standby." Standby during which a worker cannot actually spend the time freely is not a break.

A break of at least 45 minutes must be given when working time exceeds six hours, and at least one hour when it exceeds eight hours, within the working time (Labor Standards Act, Article 34). It must in principle be provided to workers at the same time and be available for free use; if split between lessons, check that the total meets this standard. Review the records to confirm that standby or on-call duty at the lodging is not being treated as a break.

A job title alone does not remove overtime pay. For judging whether someone is a "manager or supervisor" by actual conditions, see do managers and supervisors really get no overtime pay.

How are examiners' holiday work, substitute days off and holiday swaps handled?

A day off is, in principle, one day a week or four days in four weeks (Labor Standards Act, Article 35). When tests concentrate on weekends and work falls on a statutory day off, the 36 Agreement must cover holiday work, and a premium applies (at least 35% for a statutory day off).

	Holiday swap (furikae)	Substitute day off (daikyu)
Procedure	Swap the day off and a working day in advance	Give a different day off after working on the day off
Holiday-work premium	Not required (swapped within the same week, staying within 40 hours a week)	Required (holiday work has already occurred)
Caution	Needs a basis in work rules and advance designation	Granting it does not cancel the duty to pay the premium

Even with a swap, assigning across weeks can push weekly hours past 40 and trigger overtime premiums. The reliable taking of five days of annual paid leave also tends to slip in the busy season, so confirm planned grants in five days of annual paid leave.

Where do you start with work rules and agreements for the busy season?

Get the order wrong and you think you have adopted a system but miss a requirement, so premiums arise. Prepare in this order.

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1. Grasp the actual peaks and troughs by month and by lesson slot, and decide which system fits.
2. For a one-year variable system, conclude a labor-management agreement, set the target period, any especially busy period, working days and scheduled hours, and file it with the work rules at the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office.
3. Conclude a 36 Agreement (including whether a special clause is needed), writing in the busy-season forecast and limits for overtime and holiday work, and file it.
4. State break, day-off and swap rules in the work rules, and set up the method for recording attendance.
5. Monitor each month so that actual hours do not touch the absolute limits in Article 36(6) (under 100 hours a single month; 80-hour average over several months).

For the basics of preparing work rules, also see from how many employees are work rules mandatory.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 help with?

Our office supports designing one-year and one-month variable working-hours systems, drafting and filing 36 Agreements (including special clauses), preparing work rules, and methods for recording attendance. Consultations are free. See our fee schedule and FAQ.

The licensing of a designated driving school and procedures before the Public Safety Commission for examiner and instructor qualifications are handled by the operator or a gyoseishoshi; individual disputes such as unpaid overtime are handled by an attorney. Each external professional is an independent business that you contract with separately, and you are invoiced by and pay each one directly. We do not handle referral fees or kickbacks. Specific design and filing are carried out by a qualified professional after an interview.

Frequently asked questions

Q. In the busy season, can a special clause in the 36 Agreement make overtime unlimited?
A. No. Even with a special clause the ceiling is 720 hours a year, and the 45-hour month (42 under a one-year system) may be exceeded only six months a year. There is also an absolute limit (Article 36(6)) of under 100 hours in a single month and an 80-hour average over 2–6 months, holiday work included, and breaches carry penalties.

Q. Does a one-year variable working-hours system mean no overtime pay?
A. Exceeding scheduled hours alone does not make every hour statutory overtime. Check daily, weekly and reference-period statutory limits, removing double counting. MHLW’s 2010 amendment explanation (printed page 11) uses hours beyond eight on a day scheduled at eight hours or less, and beyond scheduled hours on a day scheduled above eight. A qualified professional must check implementation requirements and current application, separately considering holiday/night work and contractual allowances; the complete amendment history remains unverified.

Q. If a test falls on a day off, does giving a substitute day off avoid the premium?
A. No. A substitute day off is given after holiday work has occurred, so it does not cancel the duty to pay the holiday-work premium (at least 35%). To avoid the premium, swap the day off and a working day in advance based on the work rules and assign them so the week does not exceed 40 hours.

Q. Is standby time at a camp working time?
A. Waiting time under the employer's direction and control, during which the worker cannot spend the time freely, is working time. On-call response at the lodging or constrained standby until the next lesson cannot be treated as a break. A break of 45 minutes (over six hours) or one hour (over eight hours) must be given during the working time and be freely usable.

Sources for this article

Updated and additional materials retrieved: 12 October 2026. Checks are limited to the MHLW statute text and working-time guideline actually obtained. Complete reconciliation with e-Gov consolidated statutes, final amendment numbers and commencement histories, related judgment and Labor Standards Act Study Group report texts, and individual system, worker-status and fixed-overtime validity assessments remain unverified. Retrieval failure does not prove an error; publication is held pending qualified review.

• Labor Standards Act, Article 36 (e-Gov law search): the Article 36(4) limit (45 hours/month, 360/year; 42/month, 320/year under a one-year system), the Article 36(5) special clause (up to 720 hours/year; the 45-hour month exceeded only six times a year), and the Article 36(6) absolute limit (under 100 hours a single month; 80-hour average over several months, holiday work included). The limits took effect April 1, 2019 (April 1, 2020 for SMEs).
• Labor Standards Act, Article 32-2 (one-month variable system), Article 32-4 (one-year variable system) and Enforcement Regulations Article 12-4: the 10-hour day and 52-hour week limits, the 280-day annual cap where the target period exceeds three months, the limit on weeks over 48 hours, and consecutive working days (six in principle). Requirements confirmed via the Tochigi Labour Bureau explanation (accessed October 12, 2026).
• Labor Standards Act, Article 34 (breaks: 45 minutes over six hours, one hour over eight), Article 35 (days off: one a week or four in four weeks) and Article 37 (premium wages).
• Road Traffic Act, Article 99(1) (designation of driving schools), Article 99-2 (skill examiners) and Article 99-3 (driving instructors): designation and qualifications fall under the Public Safety Commission and are procedures separate from the working-hour management in this article. Reconciling all current consolidated provisions and final amendment dates, and judging whether the "vehicle-driving work" exception applies, are outside this article's scope.
• Shakai Hoken Roumushi Act, Article 2: basis for consultation and guidance services.
• 厚生労働省・労働基準法の法令本文（2026-10-12取得、第119条の拘禁刑等を確認）
• 厚生労働省・労働時間の適正な把握ガイドライン（2017-01-20策定、2026-10-12取得）
• 厚生労働省・時間外労働算定の説明（2010年改正説明、印字11頁、2026-10-12取得。全現行改正履歴の確認には代用しない）

This article provides general information. Specific choices of system and the content of agreements and work rules are judged by a qualified professional after an interview, using current primary sources and the actual circumstances of the workplace. Where needed, we inquire with the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office or Labour Bureau. Author: 浦松丈二 (Shakai Hoken Roumushi, Gyoseishoshi and licensed real estate transaction specialist).