Article 7Application for a Change to the Scheduled Start Date for Childcare Leave

①A worker who has filed an application for childcare leave pursuant to the provisions of Article 5, paragraph (1) may, in cases where there are reasons specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provided for in paragraph (3) of the preceding Article on or before the day preceding the scheduled start date for childcare leave in the application (in cases where the employer designates the day pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article, the day designated by the employer; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), change the scheduled start date for childcare leave only once in the application to a day before the scheduled start date for childcare leave, by notifying the employer.

②An employer may, as prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in cases where a worker files an application pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, when the changed scheduled start date for childcare leave in the application falls before the day on which the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare within a period not exceeding one month from the day following the date of the application elapses (referred to as the "period expiry date" hereinafter in this paragraph), designate as a scheduled start date for childcare leave for the worker, any day during the period from the changed scheduled start date for childcare leave in the application until the period expiry date (in cases where the day falls after the original scheduled start date for childcare leave (in cases where the employer designates the day pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article, the day designated by the employer; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), the original scheduled start date for childcare leave in the application).