Maternity leave in Japan comes from Article 65 of the Labour Standards Act and has two halves. Before the birth, a woman may take six weeks off, or 14 weeks for a multiple pregnancy, if she asks for it. After the birth, she may not work for eight weeks, whether she asks or not. The only exception is that after six weeks she may return to work her doctor has approved, if she wants to. There is no minimum length of service and no exclusion for part-timers or fixed-term staff.
The employer does not have to pay salary during the leave. Instead, the employee's health insurance pays a childbirth allowance of around two-thirds of her standard daily pay, and a separate lump sum covers the cost of the birth itself. Employee and employer social insurance contributions are both waived for the period, so the cost to the company is small.
Maternity leave is followed, usually without a break, by childcare leave, which is a different statute and a different benefit. Foreign headquarters often treat the two as one "parental leave" bucket. In Japan they have separate rules, separate forms and separate benefits.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Dismissal is barred during the leave and for 30 days after. This is an absolute prohibition under Article 19 of the Labour Standards Act, not just a high bar.
- Pregnancy cannot drive a demotion or a worse review. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act prohibits disadvantageous treatment for pregnancy or childbirth, and the Supreme Court applied this strictly in 2014 to a demotion linked to a request for lighter work.
- Global top-up policies are a recruiting point. Many foreign employers pay full salary during maternity leave on top of, or instead of, the statutory allowance. Senior women candidates ask about it, and it can tip a decision.
- Plan cover for about a year, not 14 weeks. Most employees move straight into childcare leave, so the realistic absence for a senior hire is often 12 months or more.
Sources
- Labour Standards Act, Articles 19 and 65.
- Health Insurance Act, childbirth allowance and childbirth lump-sum grant.
- Equal Employment Opportunity Act, Article 9.
- Supreme Court, Hiroshima Chuo Health Cooperative case, 23 October 2014.