Is patrol staff's "waiting time" working hours? Labour at unmanned, 24-hour self-service stores

In short: The "standby" or "waiting time" of patrol and cleaning staff for coin laundries and unmanned stores is working hours if they are placed under the company's direction and command. Working hours are the time during which a worker is placed under the employer's direction and command, determined objectively by the reality and not by the work rules or the contract (the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case, Supreme Court, March 9, 2000). If you order travel between stores as work, that travel time is also working hours, and standby to be ready for a call is in principle working hours. Where you have staff cover several stores, working hours are aggregated even across different workplaces (Labor Standards Act, Article 38, paragraph 1). From the viewpoint of a shakai hoken roumushi's labour management, this page covers the working-hours nature of patrol and standby, waiting time versus breaks, late-night premiums, aggregation across stores, and minimum-wage pitfalls — leaving crime-prevention equipment to specialist vendors, the use and building side of the store to a real estate company or architect, and disputes to an attorney, under separate engagements.

Coin laundries, unmanned sales outlets and self-service stores, instead of having staff stationed, often patrol several stores for cleaning and restocking and do night rounds and on-call response. This page is for managers who run several unmanned, self-service stores and use patrol and cleaning staff.

Are the "travel and standby" of patrol or cleaning working hours?

Whether time is working hours is decided objectively by whether the worker is placed under the employer's direction and command during that time. The Supreme Court holds that working hours are the time during which a worker is placed under the employer's direction and command, not determined by the work rules or the contract (the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case, Supreme Court, March 9, 2000).

Applying this to patrol and cleaning: where you order the staff to go round stores along a route the company designates, the travel time between stores is under direction and command as the performance of the work and is working hours (it does not include the ordinary commute between home and the first store). Standby after arriving, waiting for the next task or contact, is also working hours as long as the person cannot leave the post and must be ready for a call. Even if patrol staff are on a business-contracting basis, where the reality is employment they are treated as workers, as in The line between contracting and employment.

Time	Working hours?
Travel between stores on the designated route	Working hours (travel for work)
Commute between home and the first store	Not working hours
Standby waiting for the next task or contact	In principle working hours (waiting time)
A break with full release	Not working hours

What distinguishes waiting time from break time?

Break time is time during which release from labour is guaranteed. Where working hours exceed six hours, the employer must give a break of at least 45 minutes, and where they exceed eight hours, at least one hour, in the middle of working hours, and the break must in principle be freely used (Labor Standards Act, Article 34).

By contrast, time spent at the post ready for a phone call, a visitor, or a trouble call is waiting time from which the person is not released from labour, even if no actual work arises, and is working hours. Even if you call it a "break," if you impose a duty to respond when a call comes, it is not a break. The design of standby and naps at night in an unmanned store is covered in Naps and intermittent work in the security industry. The separation of waiting time and breaks is drawn by a qualified professional in light of the reality of the constraint.

How does premium pay apply to night rounds and on-call response?

Work done at night (22:00–05:00) requires a late-night premium of 25% or more (Labor Standards Act, Article 37, paragraph 4). Since rounds and on-call response are working hours, where that time falls at night it is subject to the late-night premium. Even if a nap is allowed during standby, where the person must be ready for a call and is not released from labour, that nap time can be working hours subject to the late-night premium.

Further, the part exceeding statutory hours (8 hours a day, 40 a week) carries 25% or more (the part over 60 hours in a month, 50% or more; applied to small and medium-sized enterprises too from April 1, 2023), and work on a statutory holiday carries 35% or more (paragraph 1). Where there are many night calls, build the wage rules on the premise that premiums overlap.

Category	Premium rate
Late-night (22:00–05:00)	25% or more
Overtime	25% or more
Overtime over 60 hours/month	50% or more
Statutory holiday work	35% or more

How do you aggregate working hours when staff cover several stores?

Working hours are aggregated even across different workplaces (Labor Standards Act, Article 38, paragraph 1). Where one member of staff goes round several unmanned stores run by the same company in a day, you add up the work time at each store and the travel and standby under direction and command as that day's working hours. If the aggregate exceeds eight hours a day, an overtime premium arises on the excess.

So the idea that "each store is short, so it is not overtime" does not hold. Grasp objectively, through a patrol sheet or attendance records, what the person was doing at which store at which time, and manage by aggregation. There is an administrative interpretation on how aggregation works for side jobs with a different company; design it together with grasping your own portion. General labour at unmanned, self-service stores is also set out in Labour at unmanned, 24-hour self-service stores.

What pitfalls on minimum wage and working hours do unmanned stores face?

The regional minimum wage under the Minimum Wage Act applies to every worker working in that region. A common pitfall is a case where the hourly rate actually paid, divided by working hours, falls below the minimum wage because waiting time and travel under direction and command are not counted as working hours. Count standby and travel as working hours, and check that the wages actually paid do not fall below the regional minimum wage (the late-night premium is added on top of, and separate from, the minimum wage). The regional minimum wage is revised every year, so check the figure published for the relevant fiscal year (published by the prefectural Labour Bureaux and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as of October 20, 2026).

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Another is that the record of working hours does not match the reality of the patrol. Even where it is unmanned, the duty to grasp working hours does not disappear, and you must manage by objective records. The final judgment on what counts as working hours is made by a qualified professional in light of the reality.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 do for you?

四葉社会保険労務士事務所 in Kohinata, Bunkyo Ward, handles, for patrol and cleaning staff of unmanned, self-service stores, separating standby and waiting time from breaks, organising the working-hours nature of travel time, designing the wage rules including the late-night premium, aggregating working hours across several stores, checking the minimum wage, and putting the work rules and the 36 Agreement in order. The initial consultation is free. We quote according to the content and number of employees; for how fees are thought about, see the fee schedule, and the questions we are asked most often are on the FAQ page.

Crime-prevention and unmanned-operation equipment is the work of specialist vendors, the use zoning and building side of the store is the work of a real estate company or architect, and individual disputes over waiting time or unpaid wages are the work of an attorney; we will guide you to contract with each separately, as an independent business entity. This office does not accept referral fees.

Frequently asked questions

Q. On an unmanned-store patrol, is the travel time from store to store working hours?
A. Travel you order the staff to make along a route the company designates is under direction and command as the performance of work and is working hours (the thinking of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case, Supreme Court, March 9, 2000). It does not include the ordinary commute between home and the first store. From where it is under direction and command is checked against the reality of the constraint.

Q. Can we not pay wages for night standby time given as a "break"?
A. Time at the post from which the person cannot leave because they must be ready for a call or trouble is, in name a break but not released from labour, waiting time and therefore working hours. It is subject to wages, and at night (22:00–05:00) a late-night premium of 25% or more is also needed (Labor Standards Act, Article 37, paragraph 4). Unless it is time that can be used freely, it is not a break (Article 34).

Q. If we have staff cover several stores in a day, how do we calculate overtime?
A. Working hours are aggregated even across different workplaces (Labor Standards Act, Article 38, paragraph 1). You add up the work at the same company's several stores and the travel and standby under direction and command, and an overtime premium applies to the part exceeding eight hours a day or 40 a week. The idea that each store is short, so it is not overtime, does not hold.

Q. Can a lot of waiting time fall below the minimum wage?
A. Yes. If you set the hourly rate without counting waiting time and travel under direction and command as working hours, the effective hourly amount divided by working hours can fall below the regional minimum wage. Count standby and travel as working hours and check that you do not fall below the minimum wage. The regional minimum wage is revised every year, so check with the figure for the relevant fiscal year.

Sources for this article

• Labor Standards Act (労働基準法, Act No. 49 of 1947), Article 32 (the principle of working hours = 8 hours a day, 40 a week), Article 34 (breaks = 45 minutes over 6 hours, 1 hour over 8 hours, in principle freely used), Article 37, paragraphs 1 and 4 (premium pay for overtime, holiday and late-night work; 50% or more over 60 hours a month), Article 38, paragraph 1 (aggregation of working hours across different workplaces) (confirmed against e-Gov on October 20, 2026)
• Supreme Court, First Petty Bench, judgment of March 9, 2000 (the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case). Held that working hours are the time during which a worker is placed under the employer's direction and command, determined objectively and not by the work rules or the contract; whether waiting time is working hours is judged on this criterion (referenced October 20, 2026)
• The 50%-or-more premium for overtime over 60 hours a month applies to small and medium-sized enterprises from April 1, 2023 (the grace measure abolished) (referenced October 20, 2026)
• The regional minimum wage under the Minimum Wage Act (最低賃金法, Act No. 137 of 1959). The applicable figure is revised every year; check the figure published by the prefectural Labour Bureaux and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for the relevant fiscal year (referenced October 20, 2026)
• On whether aggregating working hours across different workplaces includes work under different employers, there is an administrative interpretation; design it together with grasping your own portion (referenced October 20, 2026)

This article does not go so far as to decide whom you should consult. Separating standby and waiting time from breaks, organising the working-hours nature of travel time, designing the wage rules including the late-night premium, aggregating working hours across several stores, checking the minimum wage, and putting the work rules and the 36 Agreement in order are the work of a shakai hoken roumushi. Crime-prevention and unmanned-operation equipment is the work of specialist vendors, the use and building side of the store is the work of a real estate company or architect, and individual disputes over waiting time or unpaid wages are the work of an attorney; each is carried out by an independent business entity and contracted separately. This office does not accept referral fees. The cost of consulting 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 is set out in the fee schedule, and the questions we are asked most often are on the FAQ page.

This article is general information. Judgments that fit your particular circumstances are made by a qualified professional after a meeting. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi (Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant), Gyoseishoshi (Certified Administrative Procedures Legal Specialist), Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).