Under the Childcare and Family Care Leave Act, an employee may take childcare leave until their child's first birthday. If no daycare place is available, the leave can be extended to 18 months, and then to two years. Each parent can split it into two periods. Since October 2022 fathers can also take a separate post-birth leave of up to four weeks within eight weeks of the birth, which can itself be split in two.
The employer does not have to pay during the leave. Employment insurance does: 67% of pay for the first 180 days and 50% after that. From April 2025 an additional benefit raises that to 80% for up to 28 days when both parents take at least 14 days, which, because benefits are free of tax and social insurance, is close to full take-home pay.
Employers have been required since April 2022 to tell each employee who reports a pregnancy or birth about the leave individually and to ask whether they intend to take it. Since April 2025, employers with more than 300 employees, down from more than 1,000, must publish how many men take it.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Fathers take it now, and senior ones too. Plan for male employees, including managers, to take weeks or months of leave.
- Your uptake number may be public. If your Japan entity has more than 300 employees, candidates can look it up, and some do.
- Treat it as protected. Disadvantaging an employee because they took or asked for childcare leave is prohibited, and employers must prevent harassment over it.
Sources
- Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members, as amended (in force April 2022, October 2022 and April 2025).
- Employment Insurance Act, childcare leave benefits.