Caregiver leave sits in the same statute as childcare leave. An employee whose spouse, parent, parent-in-law, child, grandparent, sibling or grandchild needs constant care for two weeks or more can take up to 93 days of leave per family member, in up to three separate blocks. The 93 days are not meant to cover the care itself. They are meant to give the employee time to set up care, usually through the public long-term care insurance system, and then come back to work.
The employer does not have to pay salary. Employment insurance pays a caregiver leave benefit of 67% of prior wages, subject to a cap. Alongside the long leave there is short-term caregiver leave of five days a year, or ten if two or more family members need care, which can be taken by the hour. Employees caring for a family member can also ask to be excused from overtime and late-night work.
The 2024 amendments, in force from April 2025, shifted the emphasis from leave to prevention. Employers must now tell an employee who reports a caregiving situation about the support available and check whether they intend to use it, give general information to employees at around age 40, and train or set up a consultation point. The rule letting employers exclude staff with less than six months' service from short-term caregiver leave was abolished.
What it means for a foreign employer
- This is a senior-hire issue. The employees most likely to need it are in their 50s, which is your director and general manager population. In 2022, around 106,000 people in Japan left their jobs to provide care.
- Flexibility retains people the leave does not. Remote work, reduced hours and leave by the hour matter more than the 93 days. Senior candidates with an ageing parent outside Tokyo will ask about them.
- Check your work rules were updated for April 2025. The new information and consultation duties apply regardless of company size.
Sources
- Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave and Other Measures (Childcare and Caregiver Leave Act), as amended in 2024, in force April 2025.
- Employment Insurance Act, caregiver leave benefit.
- Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Employment Status Survey 2022.