Act to Facilitate the Employment of Persons with Disabilities

• In these counts a part-time worker (短時間労働者) — a regularly employed worker whose scheduled weekly hours are shorter than a regular worker's at the same employer and below the hours the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets — counts as the number of workers a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, both among all workers and among qualifying disabled workers. A worker with a severe physical or intellectual disability (重度身体障害者, 重度知的障害者) who is not a part-time worker counts as the number of qualifying disabled workers a Cabinet Order sets, and a part-time one as a smaller number that Ministry's Order sets. In an employer's own count, a part-time worker with a severe physical, severe intellectual or mental disability whose weekly hours fall within a range the Minister sets (a specified part-time worker, 特定短時間労働者) counts as a number that Ministry's Order sets below that, unless the person receives from that employer continuous employment support (就労継続支援) of a kind that Ministry's Order specifies, a welfare service under a separate Act.(Art. 43(3), Art. 43(4), Art. 43(5), Art. 43(8), Art. 70(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Each fiscal year (April to March) an employer, other than a special public corporation (特殊法人) and, for the time being, one ordinarily employing 100 workers or fewer, owes the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers (JEED) a persons with disabilities employment levy (障害者雇用納付金): the base amount for adjustment (調整基礎額) — a monthly sum a Cabinet Order sets from the average extra cost of employing one qualifying disabled person — times the total, over the year's months, of its workers on the first day of the month multiplied by the benchmark proportion of disabled workers (基準雇用率), fractions of a person dropped. A Cabinet Order sets that proportion, at least every five years, from the share of qualifying disabled workers among all workers. The levy is reduced by the base amount times the qualifying disabled workers the employer employed on the first day of each month, and is not collected where that product reaches the full amount.(Art. 19(2), Art. 49(2), Art. 50(1), Art. 53(1), Art. 53(2), Art. 54(1), Art. 54(2), Art. 54(3), Art. 55(1), Art. 55(2), Art. 49(1)(i), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• If the base amount times the qualifying disabled workers an employer employed on the first day of each month exceeds that levy amount, JEED pays the employer, other than a special public corporation (特殊法人) and, for the time being, one ordinarily employing 100 workers or fewer, a monetary adjustment for the employment of persons with disabilities (障害者雇用調整金): the excess divided by the base amount, times a unit adjustment amount a Cabinet Order sets. Where that number goes past one a Cabinet Order sets, each one beyond it earns a smaller amount, which a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 49(1)(i), Art. 49(2), Art. 50(1), Art. 50(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer must give persons with disabilities (障害者) the same opportunities as people without disabilities when recruiting and hiring workers. It must not, because a worker has a disability, treat the worker unjustly differently from people without disabilities in deciding wages, in training, in the use of welfare facilities or in any other treatment.(Art. 34(1), Art. 35(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• When recruiting and hiring, an employer must, at the request of a person with a disability, take the measures needed that suit the characteristics of that person's disability; for the workers with disabilities it employs, it must provide the facilities, assistants and other measures suited to their disability that they need to do their work — in both cases unless the measures would place an excessive burden on the employer. It must fully respect the person's wishes in taking these measures, and must set up what it needs to take and properly answer its workers' consultations about the workplace measures.(Art. 36-2(1), Art. 36-3(1), Art. 36-4(1), Art. 36-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives, etc.

  労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 63 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities, etc.

  障害者の日常生活及び社会生活を総合的に支援するための法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 104 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Private Schools Act

  私立学校法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 21 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities, etc.

  障害者の日常生活及び社会生活を総合的に支援するための法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 104 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2023

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities, etc.

  障害者の日常生活及び社会生活を総合的に支援するための法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 104 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 16 December 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities, etc.

  障害者の日常生活及び社会生活を総合的に支援するための法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 104 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2020

  Act Partially Amending the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life, etc.

  女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2020

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code

  民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律

  Act No. 45 of 2017The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 20 amendments already in force

• For the time being, the monetary adjustment, the levy and the rules on home-based work do not apply to an employer that ordinarily employs 100 workers or fewer, other than a special public corporation (特殊法人). The Minister may pay such an employer a monetary incentive (報奨金) for each fiscal year in which its qualifying disabled workers on the first day of each month add up to more than the larger of two figures: its workers on those days multiplied by a rate higher than the benchmark proportion of disabled workers, which a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, or a number that Order sets. Such an employer that pays home-based workers with disabilities can likewise receive a special incentive (在宅就業障害者特例報奨金).(Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For the time being, an employer in a business type in which a considerable share of the jobs are found hard for qualifying disabled persons to do (除外率設定業種) counts its workforce for the quota after deducting the workers in that business type multiplied by its exclusion rate (除外率), which a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets at no more than 95%; the levy and the monetary adjustment are worked out on the same reduced count. Government bodies of that kind have an exclusion rate a Cabinet Order sets. The rates must be cut in stages, and the reduced count for the levy is to be abolished promptly once most such employers could run their business without it.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare certifies it on application, the workers of a subsidiary (子会社), of related companies (関係会社), of all of an employer's subsidiaries together (関係子会社), or of member employers of a business cooperative (事業協同組合等) count as the parent employer's or the cooperative's own for the quota and the annual report, and the levy and the monetary adjustment are worked out the same way. Certification depends on criteria such as close ties between the businesses, the number of qualifying disabled workers employed and the ability to manage their employment properly, and the Minister may withdraw it when they are no longer met.(Art. 44(1), Art. 44(4), Art. 45(1), Art. 45(3), Art. 45-2(1), Art. 45-2(7), Art. 45-3(1), Art. 45-3(7), Art. 50(4), Art. 54(5), Art. 55(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A special public corporation (特殊法人) that a Cabinet Order lists has a quota rate a Cabinet Order sets, no lower than the general rate, and is not an employer for the monetary adjustment, the grants, the levy or the special adjustment for home-based work.(Art. 43(6), Art. 49(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer that pays home-based workers with disabilities (在宅就業障害者) — qualifying disabled persons working for themselves, not as employees, at home or at another place a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets — under a written home-based work contract, directly or through a registered home-based work support organization, receives a special monetary adjustment for home-based workers with disabilities (在宅就業障害者特例調整金) based on what it paid, up to a limit tied to the number of qualifying disabled workers it employs. Where the employer would owe the levy, the two are set against each other: it pays only the difference, or receives the difference if the adjustment is larger.(Art. 74-2(2), Art. 74-2(3)(i), Art. 74-2(4), Art. 74-2(5), Art. 74-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For mariners (船員), and people seeking to become mariners, as the Mariners' Employment Security Act (船員職業安定法), a separate Act, defines them, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通大臣) takes the place of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for the guidelines, advice, recommendations and inspections, and the Director of the District Transport Bureau (地方運輸局長), including the Director of the Transport Supervision Department (運輸監理部長), takes the place of the Director of the Prefectural Labor Bureau. Their conciliation is by conciliators named from the list of mediator candidates kept under the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes, not by the Dispute Coordinating Committee, and Article 74-8 does not apply to them.(Art. 85-2(1), Art. 85-2(2), Art. 85-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)

• An employer that ordinarily employs at least the number of workers a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets must report each year to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare on its employment of qualifying disabled workers. Whether a worker is a qualifying disabled person is confirmed by documents that Order specifies, which the employer must keep. As far as needed to enforce the Act, the Minister or the chief of a public employment security office (公共職業安定所長) may order an employer to report and send officials into its place of business to question people and inspect books and records.(Art. 43(7), Art. 43(9), Art. 81-2(1), Art. 82(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where it is needed to promote employment, the Minister may order an employer below its legally mandated number of workers with disabilities (法定雇用障害者数) to draw up a plan to hire qualifying disabled persons up to that number, and the employer must submit it. The Minister may recommend that a plan that is clearly inappropriate be changed, or, where especially needed, that a plan be properly carried out. If the employer does not follow such a recommendation without good reason, the Minister may make that public.(Art. 46(1), Art. 46(4), Art. 46(5), Art. 46(6), Art. 47(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In occupations a Cabinet Order specifies as suited to people with severe physical disabilities (特定職種), an employer must try to employ persons with prescribed physical disabilities (特定身体障害者), part-time workers aside, at least up to a rate a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets for each occupation. Where especially needed, the Minister may order an employer below that rate, with at least the number of workers in the occupation that Order sets and for whom raising the number would not be markedly hard, to draw up a plan to hire such persons, which it must submit; the Minister may recommend changes to a clearly inappropriate plan.(Art. 48(1), Art. 48(6), Art. 48(7), Art. 48(10)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer must file a levy return with JEED, and pay the levy it states, within 45 days from the first day of the next fiscal year, or from the day it closed its business if it did so during the year. If no return is filed or JEED finds an error in it, JEED decides the amount and gives notice, and the employer must pay within 15 days of being notified. JEED then adds a supplementary charge (追徴金) of 10% of the sum due, unless the payment became due because of a natural disaster or other unavoidable cause, or the sum is under 1,000 yen.(Art. 56(1), Art. 56(2), Art. 56(4), Art. 56(5), Art. 58(1), Art. 58(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• If the levy is not paid, JEED sends a written demand with a deadline at least 10 days away, and charges penal interest (延滞金) at 14.5% a year from the day after the due date, unless, among other cases, the levy is paid in full by that deadline, the sum demanded is under 1,000 yen, or there is an unavoidable reason for not paying. If the demand is not met, JEED may, with the Minister's authorization, collect the arrears in the way national tax arrears are collected, and its claim ranks next after national and local taxes. A person who objects to how the levy or another sum under these rules is imposed or collected may request an administrative review (審査請求) by the Minister.(Art. 59(1), Art. 59(2), Art. 59(3), Art. 60(1), Art. 60(5), Art. 61(1), Art. 65(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where needed, the Minister may give an employer advice, guidance or recommendations on the rules against discrimination and on measures suited to a disability. When a worker with a disability complains about treatment at work or about workplace measures, the employer must try to settle the complaint itself, for instance by referring it to a complaints body (苦情処理機関) made up of representatives of the employer and of the workers.(Art. 36-6(1), Art. 74-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In a dispute between a worker with a disability and an employer over the rules in Articles 34, 35, 36-2 and 36-3, either side may ask the Director of the Prefectural Labor Bureau (都道府県労働局長) for help, and the Director may give the parties advice, guidance or recommendations; an employer must not dismiss or otherwise disadvantage a worker for asking. These disputes follow this procedure instead of the advice, guidance and mediation (あっせん) of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes, a separate Act.(Art. 74-5(1), Art. 74-6(1), Art. 74-6(2), Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes Art. 4(1), Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes Art. 5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where either side applies for conciliation (調停) in such a dispute, other than one over recruitment and hiring, and the Director finds it needed, the Director has the Dispute Coordinating Committee (紛争調整委員会) conciliate; an employer must not disadvantage a worker for applying. Three conciliation commissioners conduct it, and the Committee may hear the parties and people with expert knowledge of medical care for persons with disabilities, and may draw up a conciliation proposal and recommend that the parties accept it.(Art. 74-7(1), Art. 74-7(2), Art. 74-8(1), Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes Art. 6(1), Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment Art. 25(1), Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment Art. 26(1), Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment Art. 28(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The penalty chapter (Chapter V) fines an employer up to 300,000 yen for not making a required report or making a false one, not drawing up or submitting a hiring plan it was ordered to, not submitting documents JEED asks for or submitting false ones, not notifying a dismissal or notifying it falsely, or refusing to answer an inspecting official, lying to one, or obstructing an inspection; where a representative, agent or employee commits the offence in the employer's business, the corporation or individual employer is fined as well as the person who acted. Officers or staff of a home-based work support organization (在宅就業支援団体) who break an order suspending its work face up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑), a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen, or both. The chapter sets no penalty for breaking the rules against discrimination or on measures suited to a disability.(Chapter 5, Art. 85-4(1), Art. 86(1), Art. 87(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 200,000 yen applies to an officer or staff member, past or present, of a work/life support center for persons with disabilities who divulges a secret learned in counseling and supporting persons with disabilities, and to a home-based work support organization that does not keep its financial statements properly or refuses without good reason a request to see them. A home-based worker with a disability (在宅就業障害者) who does not report, or reports falsely, when JEED asks or the Minister or a public employment security office orders, refuses to answer an official or answers falsely, or obstructs an inspection of the place they work, faces one of up to 50,000 yen. Using the name of a vocational center for persons with disabilities (障害者職業センター) without being one brings one of up to 100,000 yen, on the representative where the user is a corporation or other body.(Art. 88(1), Art. 33(1), Art. 89-2(1), Art. 74-3(14), Art. 74-3(15), Art. 91(1), Art. 74-2(7), Art. 74-3(20), Art. 82(2), Art. 90(1), Art. 23(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• On application, the Minister may certify an employer ordinarily employing 300 workers or fewer whose work to employ persons with disabilities is excellent and meets the other standards a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, and only a certified employer may put the mark the Minister sets on its goods, advertising, business documents and the like. Anyone else who puts that mark, or one that could be confused with it, on them can be fined up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 77(1), Art. 77-2(1), Art. 77-2(2), Art. 86-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)