Employees' Pension Insurance Act

A place of business or an office (hereinafter referred to simply as a "place of business"), or a ship falling under any of the following items is an applicable place of business:

a place of business or office for the types of business set forth in the following, at which five or more persons are regularly employed:

the business of manufacturing, processing, selecting, packing, repairing, or dismantling goods;

the business of civil engineering or architecture; the business of constructing, remodeling, preserving, repairing, altering, demolishing, or dismantling structures, or of preparing to do so;

the business of mining or quarrying minerals;

the business of generating, transmitting, or supplying electric or other motive power;

the business of transporting freight or passengers;

the business of loading or unloading freight;

the business of incineration, sanitation, or animal slaughter;

the business of selling or distributing goods;

financial or insurance services;

the business of storing or leasing goods;

intermediary brokerage services;

the business of collections, guidance, or advertising;

education, research, or investigative services;

medical treatment, midwifery, and other medical services;

communications or news services;

social welfare services specified by the Social Welfare Act (Act No. 45 of 1951) and offenders' rehabilitation services specified by the Offenders' Rehabilitation Services Act (Act No. 86 of 1995).

a business that performs work relating to law or accounting which attorneys, certified public accountants, or other persons specified by Cabinet Order are to perform pursuant to the provisions of laws and regulations.

a place of business or office of the national government, a local government, or a corporation, where persons are regularly employed, other than one that is also set forth in the preceding item.

a ship manned by persons who are employed by a shipowner (or in the case provided for in Article 3 of the Mariners Insurance Act (Act No. 73 of 1939), a person who is regarded as a shipowner in accordance with the provisions of that Article; hereinafter referred to simply as the "shipowner" or the ship's "owner") as the mariners set forth in Article 1 of the Mariners Act (Act No. 100 of 1947) (hereinafter such a person is referred to simply as a "mariner") (hereinafter such a ship is referred to simply as a "ship", except in Article 59-2).

The owner of a ship as prescribed in item (iii) of the preceding paragraph is deemed to be an employer with an applicable place of business.

An employer with a place of business other than as referred to in paragraph (1) may make the place of business an applicable place of business with the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

If an employer with a place of business seeks the approval referred to in the preceding paragraph, it must file an application with the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare with the consent of at least one-half of the persons (excluding the persons prescribed in Article 12) employed at the place of business.

If an applicable place of business under paragraph (1), item (i) or (ii) of the preceding Article has ceased to fall under either of the relevant items, that place of business is deemed to have been given approval under paragraph (3) of that Article.

An employer with an applicable place of business as referred to in Article 6, paragraph (3) may cause the place of business to cease to be an applicable place of business with the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

If an employer with a place of business seeks the approval referred to in the preceding paragraph, the employer must file an application with the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare with the consent of at least three-quarters of the persons (excluding the persons prescribed in Article 12) employed at the place of business.

If the employer is the same for two or more applicable places of business (other than ships), the employer may treat those two or more places of business as one applicable place of business with the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

If the approval referred to in the preceding paragraph has been obtained, the relevant two or more applicable places of business are deemed to have ceased to be applicable places of business as referred to in Article 6.

If the owner is the same for two or more ships, those two or more ships are treated as one applicable place of business. In such a case, those two or more ships are deemed not to be an applicable place of business as referred to in Article 6.

A person under 70 years of age who is employed at an applicable place of business is an insured covered by employees' pension insurance.

A person under 70 years of age who is employed at a place of business other than an applicable place of business may become an insured covered by employees' pension insurance with the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

In order to obtain the approval referred to in the preceding paragraph, the relevant person must gain the consent of the employer of the place of business.

An insured under the provisions of the preceding Article may forfeit status as an insured with the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 9 and Article 10, paragraph (1), a person falling under one of the following items is not an insured covered by employees' pension insurance:

a person set forth in the following who is employed temporarily (other than a mariner employed by a shipowner); provided, however, that this does not apply to a person set forth in (a) who has come to be employed continuously for more than one month, nor to a person set forth in (b) who has come to be employed continuously for more than the contracted period:

a person employed on a day-to-day basis;

a person employed for a contracted period of two months or less who is not expected to be employed beyond that contracted period;

a person employed at a place of business with a variable location;

a person employed in seasonal work (other than a mariner employed by a shipowner); provided, however, that this does not apply if the person is to be employed continuously for more than four months;

a person employed at a place of business for temporary business; provided, however, that this does not apply if the person is to be employed continuously for more than six months; or

a person employed at a place of business who constitutes a part-time worker whose scheduled working hours per week are less than three-quarters of the scheduled working hours per week of ordinary workers employed at the same place of business (for a person employed at that place of business who engages in the same type of work as the ordinary workers employed at that place of business, except in cases prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the ordinary workers who engage in the same type of work as that person; hereinafter simply referred to as "ordinary workers" in this item) ("part-time worker" meaning a person whose scheduled working hours per week are shorter than the scheduled working hours per week of ordinary workers employed at the same place of business; the same applies hereinafter in this item) or a part-time worker whose prescribed working days per month are less than three-quarters of the prescribed working days per month of ordinary workers employed at the same place of business, and who meets one of the requirements in (a) or (b):

the scheduled working hours per week are shorter than 20 hours;

the person is a student at a high school student as prescribed by Article 50 of School Education Act (Act No. 26 of 1947), a student at a university as prescribed in Article 83 of that Act, or another person as prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

An insured under the provisions of Article 9 acquires the status of an insured on the day on which the person comes to be employed at an applicable place of business, the day on which the relevant place of business becomes an applicable place of business, or the day on which the person ceases to be subject to the provisions of the preceding Article.

An insured under the provisions of Article 10, paragraph (1) acquires the status of an insured on the day on which the approval referred to in that paragraph is obtained.

An insured as under the provisions of Article 9 or Article 10, paragraph (1) forfeits the status as an insured on the day following the day on which the person comes to fall under one of the following items (or on the day itself if, on the day on which the fact occurred, the person had already come to fall under the preceding Article or had already come to fall under item (v)):

the person dies;

the person ceases to be employed at the relevant place of business or on the relevant ship;

approval as referred to in Article 8 paragraph (1) or Article 11 is obtained;

the person comes to be subject to the provisions of Article 12; or

the person reaches the age of 70.

If an insured employed at the same applicable place of business undergoes a change in insured category (meaning the classification of whether the person is a category I EPI insured, a category II EPI insured, a category III EPI insured, or a category IV EPI insured; the same applies hereinafter), the provisions of the preceding two Articles apply for each insured category.

Acquisition and forfeiture of status as an insured become effective by virtue of a confirmation by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare; provided, however, that this does not apply to status as an insured acquired pursuant to the provisions of Article 10, paragraph (1), nor to forfeiture of status as an insured due to the person having come to fall under Article 14, item (iii).

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare makes a confirmation as referred to in the preceding paragraph based on a notification under the provisions of Article 27 or a request under the provisions of Article 31, paragraph (1), or on the minister's own authority.

The provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Act No. 88 of 1993) Chapter III (other than Articles 12 and 14) do not apply to the confirmation referred to in paragraph (1).

The provisions of the preceding three paragraphs do not apply to the acquisition or forfeiture of status as a category II EPI insured, a category III EPI insured, or a category IV EPI insured.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 13, a category II EPI insured, a category III EPI insured, or a category IV EPI insured does not simultaneously acquire the status of a category I EPI insured .

If a category I EPI insured comes to acquire the status of a category II EPI insured, a category III EPI insured, or a category IV EPI insured, the category I EPI insured forfeits their status as a category I EPI insured on that date.

When an insured period is calculated, this is done in months; the months from that in which a person acquires the status of an insured to the month preceding that in which the person forfeits that status are used to calculate it.

If, in the same month that a person has acquired the status of an insured, the person forfeits that status, that month is calculated as a one-month long insured period; provided, however, that this does not apply if the person acquires the status of an insured or an insured under a National Pension (excluding a category II insured specified in Article 7, paragraph (1) item (ii) of the National Pension Act) again in that month.

For a person who has acquired the status of an insured again after having forfeited that status, the previous and subsequent insured periods are added up.

The provisions of the preceding three paragraphs apply for each insured category.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) that were to have been applied pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if a person has undergone a change of insured categories in the same month, that month is deemed to be a month in which the insured was under the insured category from after the change (if the insured has undergone a change of insured categories twice or more in the same month, that month is deemed to be a month in which the insured was under the last of those insured categories).