... The Labor Standards Law states that employees must work no more than eight hours a day and that violators face up to ¥300,000 in fines or up to six months in prison. However, employees can work overtime if their company and its labor unions, or representatives of more than half of its employees, sign an agreement based on Article 36 of the law, which permits overtime within the limits set by the labor ministry, generally 45 hours a month or 360 hours a year. But despite the cap, a special provision allows companies to go even further. According to the labor ministry, nearly 60 percent of large firms had set up Article 36 agreements with special provisions in 2013, with 14.6 percent having an overtime cap above 80 hours. ...