Can you use the deemed-working-hours system for outside work for a travel agency's tour conductors? Practice after the Hankyu Travel Supreme Court case

In short: You can use the deemed-working-hours system for work outside the workplace (Labor Standards Act, Article 38-2) for a travel agency's tour conductors only when the working hours are difficult to calculate. Where the work content is fixed in advance by the tour itinerary, instructions and reports are made at any time by mobile phone, and the state of performance can be grasped from a conductor's log, the hours are not difficult to calculate and the deeming system becomes hard to allow (the Hankyu Travel Support case, Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, January 24, 2014). Even when you use the deeming system, the rules on breaks (Article 34), late-night work (Article 37, paragraph 4) and holiday work (Article 35) apply separately, and if the deemed hours exceed statutory working hours you conclude a labor-management agreement and file it with the Labor Standards Inspection Office (Article 38-2, paragraphs 2 and 3; Enforcement Regulation of the Labor Standards Act, Article 24-2). From the viewpoint of a shakai hoken roumushi's labour management, this page sets out why conductors' hours are hard to grasp, whether the deeming system applies, what the Hankyu Travel Supreme Court case left behind, what to write in the work rules and the labor-management agreement, and the allocation of travel-business registration and the travel service manager — leaving travel-business registration to a gyoseishoshi and individual unpaid-overtime disputes to an attorney, under separate engagements.

A tour conductor's work runs long from departure to return, mixing clear duties with standby time during participants' free activity and much direct travel to and from sites, so drawing the line of what counts as working hours tends to be hard. This page is for managers and HR staff of travel agencies that employ tour conductors, setting out whether the deemed-working-hours system applies, how to design the work rules and the labor-management agreement, and how premium pay is handled, from the viewpoint of a shakai hoken roumushi's labour management.

Why are a tour conductor's working hours hard to grasp?

A tour conductor performs work not at the company's workplace (office) but at the tour site. The hours of restraint are long, and clear duties such as guiding at sightseeing spots and roll-call at assembly points are mixed with time whose evaluation is divided, such as standby while participants are in free activity. On tours with overnight stays, emergency response at night is included too, so it becomes hard to see "from where to where the hours are under the employer's direction and are working hours."

That said, "hard to grasp" is not the same as the legal phrase "when the working hours are difficult to calculate" (Labor Standards Act, Article 38-2, paragraph 1). Working hours mean the time during which a worker is placed under the employer's direction and control, and are determined objectively, not by the work rules or the contract (the thinking of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case, Supreme Court, March 9, 2000). If the company can in fact grasp the time, then even long outside work does not fall under "when the hours are difficult to calculate."

Can the deemed-working-hours system for outside work be used for tour conductors?

The deemed-working-hours system for work outside the workplace (Labor Standards Act, Article 38-2, paragraph 1) deems a worker to have worked the prescribed hours (or the hours normally required to perform the work) when the worker performs work outside the workplace for all or part of the working hours and the working hours are difficult to calculate. The gateway to the system is still "when the hours are difficult to calculate"; it cannot be used simply because the work is outside.

The deemed hours come in three forms.

Type of deemed hours	Basis	Filing
The prescribed working hours	Article 38-2, paragraph 1, main text	Not required
The hours normally required to perform the work	The same paragraph's proviso	Not required (when within statutory hours)
The hours set by a labor-management agreement	Article 38-2, paragraph 2	Required if the deemed hours exceed statutory working hours (paragraph 3; Enforcement Regulation, Article 24-2, paragraph 3; Form No. 12)

Note that the deeming system targets only the "calculation" of working hours. Even using the deeming system, the rules on breaks (Labor Standards Act, Article 34), premium pay for late-night work (22:00 to 05:00) (Article 37, paragraph 4), and holiday work (Article 35; Article 37, paragraph 1) apply separately. If you have staff work at night or on holidays, you must grasp that separately and pay the premium. Whether it applies is checked against the actual situation by a qualified professional. The same issue in outside sales work is covered in Real estate brokerage sales and the deemed-working-hours system for outside work.

What did the Hankyu Travel Supreme Court case leave for practice?

For a dispatched tour conductor on a recruitment-type package tour (an overseas tour), the Supreme Court held that it did not fall under "when the working hours are difficult to calculate" under the deemed-working-hours system for outside work (the Hankyu Travel Support case, Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, January 24, 2014). The following circumstances were cited, broadly.

Element of the judgment	Content
Work content fixed in advance	The work content and procedures were fixed in advance and specifically by the tour itinerary
Instructions and contact at any time	The conductor was made to carry a mobile phone and to receive instructions on, and report, changes arising during the tour
After-the-fact reporting	The state of performance was reported in detail in a conductor's log, the content of which could be confirmed

This judgment is a case-specific ruling tied to the circumstances of that tour, and does not say that the deeming system cannot be used uniformly for all conductor work. But the lesson for practice is clear: where you set the work by the itinerary, exchange contact at any time by mobile phone, and confirm by the log, the company is seen as able to grasp the time, and the deeming system becomes hard to allow. Where it cannot be used, you grasp working hours by objective records as a rule and pay premium pay for overtime, late-night and holiday work (Labor Standards Act, Article 37).

If you use the deeming system, what do you write in the work rules and the labor-management agreement?

As a premise for adopting the deeming system for outside work, you first examine from the actual situation whether your conductor work falls under "when the working hours are difficult to calculate." On that basis you decide whether to set the deemed hours as the prescribed hours or as the hours normally required, and where the latter exceeds statutory working hours you set the hours by a labor-management agreement.

The documents to arrange and their points are as follows.

What to arrange	Points
Work rules and wage rules	The provision on deemed hours for outside work; how late-night and holiday-work premiums are handled
Labor-management agreement (deemed hours)	The type of work, the prescribed hours per day, the hours set by the agreement, the term. If the deemed hours exceed statutory hours, file with the Labor Standards Inspection Office (Form No. 12; it may also be filed appended to the 36 Agreement filing)
36 Agreement	Needed where you have staff work overtime or on holidays (Labor Standards Act, Article 36)
Records of working hours	Objective records for the hours where the deeming system cannot be used (late night, holidays) and for operations that do not use deeming

Note that using the deeming system does not make the 36 Agreement or late-night premiums unnecessary. The design is built by looking at the whole wage system and the actual pattern of work.

Who handles travel-business registration and the appointment of the manager?

Keep labour management and the licensing of the travel business itself separate. To run a travel business you need registration under the Travel Agency Act, and you must appoint at least one travel service manager for each office (Travel Agency Act, Article 11-2, paragraph 1). Who may be appointed depends on the range handled: an office handling overseas travel needs someone who passed the General Travel Service Manager examination; an office handling only domestic travel needs the general or the domestic examination; an office handling only domestic travel limited to adjacent municipalities and the like may include the regionally-limited examination — and after appointment, attending a periodic training every five years is required (the same Article, paragraph 7).

Have a question about your situation?

Tell us about your social insurance, payroll or employment enquiry.

Chat on LINEContact us

The travel service manager is appointed from those who passed the national examination, and obtaining the qualification itself is not the work of a shakai hoken roumushi. The registration application for the travel business is a licensing procedure under the Travel Agency Act and is the work of a gyoseishoshi. Individual disputes over a conductor's unpaid overtime are the work of an attorney. This office handles the labour side — designing the work rules, the labor-management agreement and working-hour management — and we will guide you to contract for licensing and disputes with each as an independent business entity, separately.

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 travel agencies that employ tour conductors, examining whether the deemed-working-hours system for outside work applies, designing and filing the labor-management agreement on deemed hours, putting the work rules and wage rules in order, designing how working hours including late-night and holiday work are grasped, and putting the 36 Agreement in order. The initial consultation is free. We quote according to the content and the 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.

The registration application for the travel business is the work of a gyoseishoshi, and individual disputes over a conductor's unpaid overtime 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. Can we use the deemed-working-hours system for outside work for tour conductors?
A. Only when the working hours are difficult to calculate. Where the work content is fixed in advance by the tour itinerary, instructions and reports are made at any time by mobile phone, and the state of performance can be grasped from a conductor's log, the hours are not difficult to calculate and the deeming system becomes hard to allow (the thinking of the Hankyu Travel Support case, Supreme Court, January 24, 2014). Where it cannot be used, you grasp working hours by objective records and pay the premium rate for overtime, late-night and holiday work (Labor Standards Act, Article 37). Whether it applies must be checked against the actual situation.

Q. If we use the deeming system, can we skip late-night allowances and holiday-work premiums?
A. No. The deeming system targets only the "calculation" of working hours. The rules on premium pay for late-night work (22:00 to 05:00) (Labor Standards Act, Article 37, paragraph 4), holiday work (Article 35; Article 37, paragraph 1), and breaks (Article 34) apply separately. For time worked at night or on holidays, you must grasp it separately and pay the premium.

Q. Once we set the deemed hours, do we have to file with the Labor Standards Inspection Office?
A. If you set the hours normally required to perform the work by a labor-management agreement and those hours exceed statutory working hours (as a rule 8 hours a day), filing with the Labor Standards Inspection Office is required (Labor Standards Act, Article 38-2, paragraph 3; Enforcement Regulation, Article 24-2, paragraph 3; Form No. 12). If the deemed hours are within statutory working hours, filing is not required. The agreement on deemed hours may also be filed appended to the 36 Agreement filing.

Q. Can we ask a shakai hoken roumushi to handle travel-business registration or the appointment of the travel service manager?
A. No. The registration application for the travel business is a licensing procedure under the Travel Agency Act and is the work of a gyoseishoshi. The travel service manager is appointed — at least one per office — from those who passed the national examination (Travel Agency Act, Article 11-2, paragraph 1), and obtaining the qualification itself is not the work of a shakai hoken roumushi. What a shakai hoken roumushi handles is the labour side — the work rules, the labor-management agreement and working-hour management — and licensing is contracted with an independent business entity separately.

Sources for this article

• Labor Standards Act (労働基準法, Act No. 49 of 1947), Article 38-2, paragraph 1 (the deemed-working-hours system where work is performed outside the workplace and the hours are difficult to calculate = as a rule the prescribed hours; where normally required to perform the work, that time), paragraph 2 (setting the hours normally required by a labor-management agreement), paragraph 3 (filing the agreement with the administrative agency), Article 34 (breaks), Article 35 (holidays), Article 37, paragraphs 1 and 4 (premium pay for overtime, holiday and late-night work), Article 36 (the agreement on overtime and holiday work) (confirmed against e-Gov on October 25, 2026)
• Enforcement Regulation of the Labor Standards Act (労働基準法施行規則, Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance No. 23 of 1947), Article 24-2 (provisions on the deemed-working-hours system for outside work; the filing of the labor-management agreement under paragraph 3 uses Form No. 12; filing is not required where the deemed hours are within statutory working hours; it may also be filed appended to the agreement on overtime and holiday work) (referenced October 25, 2026)
• Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, judgment of January 24, 2014 (the Hankyu Travel Support case, 2012 (Ju) No. 1475). For a tour conductor on a recruitment-type package tour, held that it did not fall under "when the working hours are difficult to calculate" under the deeming system for outside work, because the work content was specifically fixed in advance by the itinerary, the conductor received instructions at any time by mobile phone and was made to report, and the state of performance was reported in detail in a conductor's log that could be confirmed. It is a case-specific ruling tied to that case (referenced October 25, 2026)
• Supreme Court, First Petty Bench, judgment of March 9, 2000 (the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case). Held that working hours mean the time during which a worker is placed under the employer's direction and control, determined objectively rather than by the work rules or the contract (referenced October 25, 2026)
• Travel Agency Act (旅行業法, Act No. 239 of 1952), Article 11-2, paragraph 1 (appointing at least one travel service manager for each office), the same Article, paragraph 7 (periodic training after appointment). The examination categories that may be appointed (general, domestic, regionally-limited) follow the Japan Tourism Agency (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) overview of the Travel Agency Act (confirmed against e-Gov and Japan Tourism Agency materials on October 25, 2026)

This article does not go so far as to decide whom you should consult. Examining whether the deemed-working-hours system for outside work applies, designing and filing the labor-management agreement on deemed hours, putting the work rules and wage rules in order, grasping working hours including late-night and holiday work, and putting the 36 Agreement in order are the work of a shakai hoken roumushi. The registration application for the travel business is the work of a gyoseishoshi, and individual disputes over a conductor's unpaid overtime 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).