Employers often need someone to work on a day off. Japanese practice offers two ways to give the day back, and the difference is timing.
A substitute day off, furikae kyujitsu, is designated before the work happens. The employer, under a clause in the work rules, specifies in advance that, say, Sunday becomes a working day and the following Wednesday becomes the day off. Legally, Sunday was never a day off, so there is no holiday work and no holiday premium. The swap must still leave the employee with at least the statutory one day a week or four in four weeks, and if the swap puts the employee over 40 hours in a week, the excess is overtime.
A compensatory day off, daikyu, is given after the event. The employee has already worked on the statutory day off, so that work was holiday work and needs a 36 Agreement. Giving a day off later does not erase it. The employer can offset the ordinary pay for the day, but the 35% premium remains payable.
Confusingly, furikae kyujitsu is also the name, under the Act on National Holidays, for the substitute public holiday when a national holiday falls on a Sunday, usually the next Monday. That is a separate concept.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Decide before the weekend, not after. A swap agreed on Friday is a substitute day off; one agreed on Monday is a compensatory day, and costs the premium.
- Put the clause in the work rules. Without a provision allowing the employer to swap days, a substitute day off may not be valid.
- Watch the 40-hour week. Moving a day off into the following week can push the current week over 40 hours, which creates overtime even with a valid swap.
- Track untaken compensatory days. Days owed but never taken become a liability that employees raise at exit.
Sources
- Labour Standards Act, Articles 35 and 37, and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare administrative guidance on substitute and compensatory days off.
- Act on National Holidays, Article 3.