How many employees make work rules mandatory, and what applies no matter how few

In short: Drawing up and filing work rules becomes mandatory once you regularly employ 10 or more workers. However, harassment-prevention measures and the measures under the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act are mandatory regardless of headcount. Written notice of working conditions is required from your first employee too. "We have fewer than 10 people, so we need nothing" does not hold.

We are often asked, "We are still only five people, so we don't need work rules, do we?" As far as work rules go, that is correct. But not needing work rules is not the same as needing nothing. Several obligations bite regardless of how many people you employ.

How many employees does it take before work rules become mandatory?

Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act (労働基準法, Act No. 49 of 1947) provides that "an employer who regularly employs 10 or more workers shall draw up work rules covering the matters listed below and file them with the administrative agency." The same applies when the rules are amended.

There are traps in how you count. "Regularly 10 or more" is counted per place of business. If the company has 15 people in total but 8 at head office and 7 at a branch, both places of business are under 10. Conversely, with 12 at head office and 3 at a branch, only head office is subject to the obligation.

Part-timers and casual staff are included in the count. The figure is the number of workers you employ as a normal state of affairs, whatever the form of employment. People who cannot be described as normally employed, such as day laborers and temporary hires, are excluded.

The filing deadline is not "within X days." Article 49, paragraph 1 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act (労働基準法施行規則, Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare No. 23 of 1947) provides that where an employer "has come to regularly employ 10 or more workers," the filing with the head of the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office must be made without delay. From the moment you hire your tenth worker, there is no grace period counted in days.

The matters to be stated split into those that must always be written (absolutely required matters) and those that must be written if you have such a system (relatively required matters).

	Content
Always write	(1) Starting and finishing times, rest periods, days off, leave, and shift changeovers where work is in shifts (2) Determination, calculation and method of payment of wages, the closing date and timing of payment, and pay raises (3) Matters concerning resignation and termination (including the grounds for dismissal)
Write if you have the system	Retirement allowances / temporary wages and minimum wage amounts / worker-borne meal costs, work supplies and the like / safety and health / vocational training / accident compensation and support for non-work injury and illness / commendations and sanctions / any other rule applying to all workers

"Including the grounds for dismissal" in (3) is the part most easily missed in practice.

If you have fewer than 10 people, is nothing really required?

Things are required. Laid out, the obligations that do not depend on headcount look like this.

What	From how many	Basis
Written notice of working conditions	From the first employee	Labor Standards Act, Article 15; Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act, Article 5
Harassment-prevention measures (power harassment)	Regardless of headcount	Labor Measures Comprehensive Promotion Act (労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律, Act No. 132 of 1966), Article 30-2, paragraph 1. Mandatory for small and medium-sized enterprises from April 1, 2022 (令和4年4月1日)
Prohibition of disadvantageous treatment on the grounds of having raised a consultation	Regardless of headcount (from June 1, 2020 / 令和2年6月1日)	Same Article, paragraph 2
Measures concerning child care leave, family care leave and the like	Regardless of headcount	Child Care and Family Care Leave Act (育児休業、介護休業等育児又は家族介護を行う労働者の福祉に関する法律, Act No. 76 of 1991) (except Article 22-2)
Measures to prevent harassment relating to child care leave and the like	Regardless of headcount	Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, Article 25
Article 36 agreement (if you have people work overtime or on days off)	Regardless of headcount	Labor Standards Act, Article 36
Drawing up and filing work rules	Regularly 10 or more	Labor Standards Act, Article 89
Publication of the rate at which child care leave is taken	Regularly more than 300	Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, Article 22-2

Within the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, the only provision carrying a company-size requirement is Article 22-2 (publication of take-up rates). Responding to applications for child care leave and family care leave, leave to care for a child, family care leave, restrictions on work outside scheduled hours, on overtime work and on late-night work, shortened working hours for children under three, individual notification and confirmation of intent when an employee reports a pregnancy or birth, and putting the employment environment in place — all of these are obligations even in a company with one employee.

There are also two misunderstandings about harassment-prevention measures.

First. The obligation for small and medium-sized enterprises started on April 1, 2022 (令和4年4月1日), which is already more than four years ago. Explanations describing it as "an effort obligation for small and medium-sized enterprises" are still in circulation, but it is now a hard obligation.

Second. What was left as an effort obligation was only paragraph 1 of Article 30-2. Paragraph 2 (you must not treat a worker disadvantageously on the grounds that they raised a consultation) has applied to small and medium-sized enterprises since June 1, 2020 (令和2年6月1日).

And then the Article 36 agreement. To have workers work overtime or on days off, you must conclude a written agreement with a representative of the majority of workers or the like, and file it with the head of the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office (Labor Standards Act, Article 36, paragraph 1). Having people work overtime without filing it is unlawful regardless of headcount. The limit is, as a rule, 45 hours a month and 360 hours a year (same Article, paragraph 4).

What gets added from October 2026?

Dealing with customer harassment (severely abusive conduct by customers and others) becomes mandatory.

Under the amendment of the Labor Measures Comprehensive Promotion Act and related acts by Act No. 63 of 2025 (令和7年法律第63号), employers are required to take the following measures from October 1, 2026 (令和8年10月1日):

• Employment-management measures to prevent harm to the working environment caused by customer harassment (severely abusive conduct by customers and others)
• Measures to prevent sexual harassment against job applicants and others

This too applies regardless of size. And it starts the month after September 1, 2026, the day this article is published.

As with the measures against power harassment, what is required is a consultation desk, a clearly stated and publicized policy, and appropriate follow-up afterwards. A company that already has a power harassment framework can respond by widening that same frame. A company that has not put the power harassment measures themselves in place will have to build both at once by October.

Where should you start?

We recommend the following order, starting with what is required regardless of headcount.

1. The written notice of working conditions (Labor Standards Act, Article 15) — required from your first employee, and the item that arises most often
2. The Article 36 agreement (if you have people work overtime) — if you have not filed it, the overtime being worked right now is itself the problem
3. A harassment-prevention framework — customer harassment joins it in October 2026. Build it now and it is done in one pass
4. Rules on child care and family care leave, and the procedure for individual notification — waiting until an application arrives is too late
5. Work rules (once 10 people come into view)

On item 1, the required items increased in April 2024 (令和6年4月). The scope of change of the place of work and of the duties to be performed; the cap on renewals for fixed-term contracts; and, for contracts where the right to apply for conversion to an indefinite term arises, the matters concerning that application and the working conditions after conversion. If you are still using a form from several years ago, those three are missing.

Notice must in principle be given by delivering a written document; only where the worker so requests may it be given by facsimile, email or the like (Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act, Article 5, paragraph 4). "We told them verbally" is not enough.

One more point: where you enroll a co-residing relative in employment insurance, one of the requirements is that the person "be managed in the same way as other workers in accordance with the work rules or something equivalent to them." As a situation calling for a written document even below 10 people, see also Three places people stumble when putting family on the payroll.

Frequently asked questions

Q. We regularly employ fewer than 10 people. May we draw up work rules anyway?
A. You may. There is simply no obligation; it is not prohibited. Drawing them up reduces the effort of explaining working conditions one person at a time, and it makes the basis for disciplinary action clear. Note that where a place of business with no obligation draws them up voluntarily, no filing obligation arises either — but filing them anyway has the practical advantage of getting the content reviewed.

Q. We have passed 10 people and have no work rules. Will we be penalized straight away?
A. There are penalties for violating Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act, but in practice guidance from the inspection office normally comes first. That does not mean "you may leave it alone until you are told." What actually invites trouble is less the absence of work rules than the fact that, without them, working conditions stay vague. When a dispute over resignation or dismissal arises, you have nothing to stand on.

Q. May we have different work rules for each branch?
A. You may. Work rules are drawn up and filed per place of business, so differences in content between places of business are not in themselves a problem. However, creating differences in treatment without a rational reason gives rise to other issues (disadvantageous treatment; equal pay for equal work). You need to be in a position to explain why they differ.

Q. What exactly are we supposed to do for harassment-prevention measures?
A. The guidelines set out clarifying the policy and making it known, putting in place the framework needed to receive consultations and respond appropriately, prompt and appropriate follow-up, and making known the protection of privacy and the prohibition of disadvantageous treatment. In a small company, the real difficulty is deciding who staffs the consultation desk. Please talk to us, including about the options where it cannot be placed inside the company. For fees, see the fee schedule.

Sources for this article

• 労働基準法 (Labor Standards Act, Act No. 49 of 1947), Article 15, Article 36 paragraphs 1 and 4, and Article 89
• 労働基準法施行規則 (Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act, Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare No. 23 of 1947), Article 5 paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5, Article 16 paragraph 1, Article 49 paragraph 1
• 労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律 (Act No. 132 of 1966), Article 30-2 paragraphs 1 and 2
• 女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律 (Act No. 24 of 2019 / 令和元年法律第24号), Supplementary Provisions Article 3 (transitional measures for small and medium-sized employers). The obligation for small and medium-sized enterprises took effect on April 1, 2022 (令和4年4月1日). The date was confirmed from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 「職場におけるパワーハラスメント対策が事業主の義務になりました！」 (prepared January 2022 / 令和4年1月) and from published materials of several Prefectural Labour Bureaus. We have not been able to confirm the text of the Cabinet Order fixing the "day specified by Cabinet Order" for that transitional measure (unverified).
• 育児休業、介護休業等育児又は家族介護を行う労働者の福祉に関する法律 (Act No. 76 of 1991), Articles 5, 9-2, 10, 16-2, 16-5, 16-8, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23 paragraph 1, 23-3 and 25 (none of which depend on company size), and Article 22-2 (regularly more than 300)
• The amendment of the 労働施策総合推進法 and related acts by 令和7年法律第63号 makes the obligation to take customer harassment prevention measures and measures to prevent sexual harassment against job applicants and others effective on October 1, 2026 (令和8年10月1日). Confirmed from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 「令和8年10月1日からハラスメント対策が強化されます！」
• All statutory provisions are the versions in force as confirmed on e-Gov法令検索 on August 13, 2026

This article does not go so far as to decide whom you should consult. Drawing up and filing work rules and wage rules, concluding and filing the Article 36 agreement, putting written notices of working conditions in order, and building a harassment-prevention framework are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi (Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant). Matters that have already become disputes go to an attorney, and the handling of withholding tax and the year-end adjustment that comes with wage rules goes to a tax accountant — in each case we will point you to them and you engage them directly. 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 collected 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).