What changes
The 2026 amendment to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (Act No. 60 of 2026, passed on 10 July 2026 and promulgated on 17 July 2026) takes effect on 1 April 2027. For HR teams, three changes matter.
- A longer claim window for hard-to-judge illnesses. Claims for medical treatment, lost wages, funeral costs and nursing care currently lapse two years after they could first be made. For illnesses whose link to work is hard to judge, the period becomes five years. A draft cabinet order put to the Labour Policy Council on 9 October 2026 names three groups: stroke and heart disease caused by long hours or other strain, mental illness caused by severe psychological stress at work, and the main asbestos diseases. These are the overwork and stress categories already listed in the Labour Standards Act regulations.
- The same window against the employer. The Labour Standards Act gives employees a direct claim against the employer for work injuries, for example for the first three days off work, which insurance does not cover. That claim also moves from two to five years for the same illnesses.
- Equal survivor pensions. A widower can currently receive a survivor pension only if he was 60 or over, or disabled, when his wife died. That condition goes, so husbands and wives qualify on the same terms. Where there is one survivor, the pension becomes a flat 175 days of the deceased's average daily wage a year, instead of 153 days with a higher rate only for older or disabled widows.
The amendment also writes the rules for groups that enrol freelancers and sole traders into the scheme into law, and moves appeals over the scheme's add-on payments to the same tribunals that hear benefit appeals. Small farming, forestry and fishing businesses lose their exemption from compulsory cover at a later date set by cabinet order; the draft order proposes 1 April 2031.
Who it applies to
Every employer in Japan, foreign subsidiaries and branches included. The longer window applies to any employee covered by workers' compensation, which means anyone the employer pays as a worker, whatever their hours or nationality.
Action for employers
- Keep records for five years, not two. Time records, overtime approvals, harassment complaints and health interview notes are the evidence in an overwork or mental illness claim. A claim can now arrive up to five years after the illness, so retention schedules built around two years are too short.
- Expect more late claims after exits. Former employees who left with a stress-related illness will have longer to file. Settlement and exit agreements cannot waive a workers' compensation claim.
- Review survivor benefits in company schemes. Any company death-in-service or bereavement policy that mirrors the old widow-only rule should be updated before April 2027.
- Brief regional HQ on the exposure. A recognised overwork claim often leads to a civil suit; a longer window means a longer tail of risk after a high-pressure project ends.
Sources
- Act amending the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act and others (Act No. 60 of 2026); Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Labour Standards Bureau notice on its promulgation, 17 July 2026.
- Labour Policy Council, workers' accident insurance subcommittee, 133rd meeting, 9 October 2026: draft outlines of the cabinet order and ministerial ordinance implementing the amendment.
- Labour Standards Act, Article 115; Enforcement Regulations, Appended Table 1-2, items 8 and 9.