** Be aware of recent changes to Japan’s childcare and nursing care. In this article, we cite a variety of examples, in detail, of the act. This may only be of interest to HR or other personnel responsible for the administration of workplace rules.
Underlined parts have been added or changed in the detailed version.
Caregiving leave for children. Article 14
1. Employees who raise children until the completion of the third grade of elementary school (excluding day-time employees) shall, in addition to the annual paid leave stipulated in the Employment Regulations, 5 days per year if the child is one, 2 or more people, in order to take care of the child specified below. In this case, you can take a leave of absence for your child’s nursing, up to 10 days per year. In this case, one year shall be from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.
(i) Care for a child who is injured or sick
(ii) Have the child in question receive vaccinations and health check-ups
(iii) Caring for children who have been closed due to infectious diseases
(iv) Participation in the child’s entrance (entrance) ceremony and graduation ceremony
2. Children’s nursing leave can be taken continuously from the start time to the time of continuous or end of work on an hourly basis.
3. In principle, the person who intends to obtain it shall submit a nursing leave application form (internal form 7) to the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department in advance.
4. For the salary while under the application of this system, the amount equivalent to the time when there was no provision of labor labor based on the separately prescribed salary regulations shall be paid.
5. For bonuses, if there is a period of application under this system during the period of calculation, bonuses corresponding to the time when labor services were not provided will not be paid.
6. When calculating regular salary increases and retirement benefits, the period of application to this system shall be deemed to be normal work.
Nursing care leave. Article 15
1. Employees who take care of family members who need nursing care or other things (excluding day-early employees) are required to pay 5 days per year if there is one family member, 10 days per year if there are two or more people, apart from the annual paid leave stipulated in Article ◯ of the Employment Regulations. You can take nursing care leave as a limit. In this case, one year shall be from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.
2. Nursing care leave can be taken continuously from the start time to the continuous or end time in the hourly basis.
3. In principle, those who intend to obtain it shall submit a nursing care leave application form (internal form 7) to the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department in advance.
4. For the salary while under the application of this system, the amount equivalent to the time when there was no provision of labor labor based on the separately prescribed salary regulations shall be paid.
5. For bonuses, if there is a period of application under this system during the period of calculation, bonuses corresponding to the time when labor services were not provided will not be paid.
6. When calculating regular salary increases and retirement benefits, the period of application to this system shall be deemed to be normal work.
Restrictions on non-prestricted labor for childcare and nursing care. Article 16
1. If an employee (excluding day-employed employees) who raises a child until the beginning of elementary school starts school requests to take care of the family in order to raise the child or to take care of a family in need of nursing care , Unless there is a problem with the normal operation of the business, you will not be made to work beyond the prescribed working hours.
2. The person who intends to make a claim for a period of 1 month or less than 1 year per time (hereinafter referred to as the “restriction period” in this article). Regarding the date on which the restriction is intended to be started (hereinafter referred to as the “expected date of the restriction” in this article.) And in principle, a request for non-premed labor restriction (internal form 8) for childcare and nursing care shall be submitted to the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department at least one month before the scheduled start date of the restriction. In this case, the limitation period must not overlap with the limitation period stipulated in paragraph 3 of the following article.
3. When receiving an invoice for an out-of-sthe-be-cord labor restriction, the company may require the submission of various certificates to the minimum necessary.
4. If the child related to the request is born after the date of the request, the person who submitted an application for an out-of-premanded labor restriction (hereinafter referred to as the “claimer” in this article.) Within 2 weeks after birth, you must submit a notification of the birth of a child subject to the specified labor restriction (internal form 3) to the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department.
5. If the applicant does not raise the child or take care of the family due to the death of the child or family member related to the claim by the day before the scheduled start date of the restriction, it shall be deemed not to have been claimed. In this case, the claimant must, in principle, notify the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department on the day the reason occurs.
6. In the event of any of the reasons listed in the following items, the limitation period shall be terminated, and the end date of the limitation period shall be the date listed in each item.
7. In the event of a reason under Item 1 of Paragraph 6 of this Article, the applicant must, in principle, notify the Labor Division of the Human Resources Department on the day the reason occurs
Please click here for the MHLW website’s official japanese materials on the Act and all recent changes. See the end of the article for links to English materials.
Basic MHLW Materials in English for Childcare and Nursing Care Leave. Caution: these are very helpful descriptions in English and are supposed to kept up to date. However, updates in Japanese are far more frequently published – as such, it is best to refer to those to be sure.
Promotion of Balancing Work and Family Section of the MHLW Portal:
- Introduction to the revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law [English] [Japanese]
- The Act for Partial Revision of the Act for Measures to Support the Development of the Next-Generation Children (Act No. 28 of 2014) (Overview)(PDF:89KB)
- Overview of Revised Child and Family Care Leaves Act and Equal Employment Opportunities Act(English PDF:749KB) (Japanese PDF:1,079KB)
- Outline of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members
(English PDF:282KB Chinese PDF:643KB Portuguese PDF:432KB Vietnamese PDF:555KB Japanese PDF:734KB) - Outline of the Act on the Partial Amendment to the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace etc. (PDF:506KB)
Japanese Source Materials: Pamphlets, Recent Changes, Examples in Work Rules, etc.
MHLW portal for the Childcare and Nursing Act.
Leaflet on the changes to the act.
Examples of Regulations and including them the Company Work Rules.
Notes about Verse and our Articles.
- *Verse Corporation publishes articles on timely issues in Japanese Social Welfare and Labour Law. Japanese payroll, source deductions, and all labor law work & pay rules regarding compensation, social insurance, absenteeism & sick leave, etc. require strict adherence. Labor/employment law can be complex, even for Japanese companies, and must be handled mostly in Japanese. As with all social welfare and labor law matters in Japan, please seek out professional Sharoushi (Certified Labor and Social Security Attorney.)*
- The bulk of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announcements are in Japanese. There are some general materials on the English site, however it tends to
- reflect only basic information. Please always seek out a local Japanese Sharoushi for an accurate interpretation of these complex rules and laws.
- In our External Resources you will find links to a select number of trusted Japanese and global resources addressing Japanese labor law, workplace Employer responsibilities and trends, etc.
