TOKYO, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Thousands of McDonalds workers in Japan were underpaid due the company's policy of rounding time worked down to the nearest 30 minutes per shift.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare permits the rounding down of wages to the nearest 30 minutes for the entire month, but McDonalds Holdings Co. Japan rounded down wages to the nearest 30 minutes daily. Company officials said they would return two years worth of payments to about 100,000 regular and part-time workers, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday.
McDonalds officials said that a labor standards inspection office in Hyogo Prefecture informed the company at the end of May that its method of calculating overtime for employees was inappropriate and told it to improve its practices.
The same calculation methods were used at 3,771 McDonalds outlets in Japan. To improve its practices, the company began calculating working hours in one-minute intervals at its stores.
