When introducing telework (working from home), how do you arrange the rules on working hours and cost-bearing?

In short: Even if you introduce telework (working from home), the Labor Standards Act applies the same way. In principle the employer has a duty to grasp working hours by objective records and the like, and the off-premises deemed working-hours system (Article 38-2 of the Labor Standards Act) may be used only in certain cases where working hours are hard to calculate. When you have workers bear, or you pay, communication costs or a work-from-home allowance, set it out in the work rules (an establishment with 10 or more workers at all times has a duty to create and file them; Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act). The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "Guideline for the appropriate introduction and implementation of telework" (revised 25 March 2021) organizes the thinking on grasping working hours and cost-bearing. Putting telework and work rules in order is for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; the taxation of costs and their treatment as necessary expenses is for a tax accountant (a separate business entity, contracted separately).

"How should we manage working hours once we switch to working from home?" and "who bears the communication costs — the company or the employee?" — these are consultations we receive from companies that want to introduce telework as a system. This page is for small and medium enterprises that want to introduce working from home or remote work as a system in their work rules, and it sorts out the points to hold on working-hours management, cost-bearing, and putting the rules in order. Individual judgments — such as whether an injury while working from home amounts to a work-related accident — are outside the scope of this article.

Even with telework, how do you grasp and manage working hours?

Telework only changes the place of work to the home or the like; the Labor Standards Act's regulation of working hours applies as it is. The employer has a duty to properly grasp working hours, and grasps them in principle by objective methods such as records of time cards or PC usage time. Where self-reporting is unavoidable, put in place a mechanism to confirm that it matches the reality.

• Decide in advance how to record start and end times and how to treat "step-away" (interruption of work) time
• Overtime, holiday, and late-night work generate premium wages (Article 37 of the Labor Standards Act). It is the same at home
• Only when working hours are hard to calculate may you use the off-premises deemed working-hours system (Article 38-2 of the Labor Standards Act) and deem the worker to have worked the prescribed hours

The off-premises deemed working-hours system cannot be used for any and all work from home. The MHLW guideline indicates the purport that where information and communication devices are in a constantly communicable state and work is done based on specific instructions as needed, it does not fall under "hard to calculate." How to choose the working-hours system itself is also sorted out in how to choose the variable working-hours system and flextime.

Who bears communication costs, utilities, and the work-from-home allowance, and how far?

How far the company or the worker bears the communication costs, utilities, and device costs that arise with working from home is not fixed uniformly by law. Decide it by labor-management discussion and set it out in the work rules or telework rules.

Example of cost	What to decide
Communication costs, utilities	Company-borne, paid as a fixed work-from-home allowance, or worker-borne
Information and communication devices (PC, smartphone, etc.)	Company-lent, or use of personal devices (BYOD). For personal use, the treatment of cost and information management
Office supplies, mailing costs	Actual-cost settlement, or included in the allowance

When you have a worker bear a cost, it must be set out as a relatively-required item of the work rules (Article 89, item 5 of the Labor Standards Act). The tax treatment of a work-from-home allowance or communication-cost subsidy (whether it is taxed as wages or is reimbursement of actual cost, and its treatment as a necessary expense) is the domain of a tax accountant (a separate business entity, contracted separately). Where side work overlaps with telework, labor management for side work is also a reference.

What should you set out in the work rules or telework rules?

An establishment that employs 10 or more workers at all times has a duty to create work rules and file them with the head of the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office (Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act). When introducing telework, set it out in the main work rules, or make separate telework rules and file them as part of the work rules.

• Eligible persons and eligible work, and the application or permission procedure
• Start and end times, breaks, treatment of step-away time, and the working-hours system (ordinary working hours, or off-premises deemed)
• Rules for bearing communication costs, utilities, and device costs
• Information security, service discipline, and the method of contact and reporting
• Matters on safety, hygiene, and health assurance while working from home

To create or change work rules, hear the opinion of the establishment's majority representative and file it with an opinion letter attached. The duty to create work rules itself is sorted out in from how many people are work rules required.

How does the company prepare for injury or long working hours while working from home?

The employer bears a duty to give consideration so that a worker can work while securing the safety of their life and body (the safety-consideration duty of Article 5 of the Labor Contract Act). Even with telework, health-assurance measures are needed. The framework of health checkups under the Industrial Safety and Health Act and physician's interview guidance for long-hours workers reaches working from home in the same way.

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• Through grasping working hours, find long working hours early and manage them in line with the upper limit (the limit on overtime work in Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act)
• You may include in the rules devices to avoid a constantly-connected state, such as restraining the sending of e-mail late at night or on holidays
• Whether an injury while working from home amounts to a work-related accident (labor accident) is judged individually from performance-of-work and work-causation, and the final recognition is made by the Labor Standards Inspection Office

The individual judgment of whether it is a labor accident belongs to the authority of the administration; keeping records of working hours and the content of work instructions is the company's preparation.

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 putting telework rules and work rules in order, designing the method of grasping working hours, examining whether the off-premises deemed working-hours system can be used, articulating cost-bearing rules, and building a structure for long-hours and health assurance. The tax treatment of a work-from-home allowance or communication-cost subsidy is handled by a tax accountant, and technical information-security measures by an IT vendor — each a separate business entity from this office, contracted separately. This office handles the labor-management and rule-drafting side. Consultation is free. For fees, see the fee schedule; for frequently asked questions, see the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Q. If we switch to working from home, do we no longer have to manage working hours?
A. No. Even with telework, the Labor Standards Act's regulation of working hours applies as it is, and the employer has a duty to properly grasp working hours. In principle, grasp them by objective records such as PC usage time, and where you rely on self-reporting, confirm consistency with the reality. Overtime, holiday, and late-night work generate premium wages.

Q. Because it is work from home, can we put everything on the off-premises deemed working-hours system?
A. Not necessarily. The off-premises deemed working-hours system (Article 38-2 of the Labor Standards Act) may be used only when working hours are "hard to calculate." The MHLW guideline states that where information and communication devices are constantly communicable and work is done based on specific instructions as needed, it does not fall under "hard to calculate." Whether it applies is judged by the reality of how one works.

Q. Must the company always bear communication costs or the work-from-home allowance?
A. It is not fixed uniformly by law. Decide it by labor-management discussion and set it out in the work rules or telework rules. When you have a worker bear a cost, it must be set out as a relatively-required item of the work rules (Article 89, item 5 of the Labor Standards Act). The tax treatment of an allowance is the domain of a tax accountant.

Q. When starting telework, must we always change the work rules?
A. An establishment that employs 10 or more workers at all times has a duty to create and file work rules (Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act). Matters newly set for telework, such as the treatment of working hours and cost-bearing, are set out in the main work rules or telework rules, and filed with the majority representative's opinion letter attached. Even with fewer than 10 people, setting it out in writing is desirable to avoid trouble.

The basis for this article

• Labor Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947) Article 38-2 = the off-premises deemed working-hours system (where a worker is engaged in work off-premises for all or part of the working hours and the working hours are hard to calculate, they are deemed to have worked the prescribed hours) / Article 37 = premium wages for overtime, holiday, and late-night work / Article 36 = the agreement and limit on overtime and holiday work / Article 89 = the duty of an employer that uses 10 or more workers at all times to create and file work rules (item 5 = costs to be borne by workers, etc., as a relatively-required item) / Article 24 = full payment of wages
• Labor Contract Act (Act No. 128 of 2007) Article 5 = the employer's safety-consideration duty (securing the safety of the worker's life and body)
• Industrial Safety and Health Act (Act No. 57 of 1972) = health-assurance measures such as health checkups and physician's interview guidance for long-hours workers
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "Guideline for the appropriate introduction and implementation of telework" (the former guideline formulated in February 2018 was revised on 25 March 2021) = the thinking on the method of grasping working hours, the scope of the off-premises deemed system, step-away time, cost-bearing, and long-hours measures (referred as of 23 September 2026)
• Provisions are confirmed via the e-Gov Law Search (as of September 2026)

This article does not conclude the applicability of a working-hours system or of a labor accident according to individual circumstances. Putting telework and work rules in order, designing working-hours management, and building a health-assurance structure are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi. The taxation of costs and their treatment as necessary expenses is for a tax accountant, technical information-security measures for an IT vendor, and individual recognition of a labor accident for the Labor Standards Inspection Office (each a separate business entity from this office, contracted separately). 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).