Labor Standards Act

An employer must grant paid leave of 10 consecutive or nonconsecutive working days to a worker who has been employed continuously for six months from the day of their hiring and who has worked on at least 80 percent of the total working days during that period.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, the number of days of paid leave for a worker stated in the following items (excluding one whose prescribed weekly working hours are more than the hours prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) is prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on the number of days of paid leave specified in the preceding two paragraphs in consideration of the ratio of the number of days prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as the prescribed working days in a week for a worker with a standard employment status (referred to as "the prescribed weekly working days of a worker with a standard employment status" in item (i)) to either the number of prescribed weekly working days for the relevant worker or the average number of prescribed working days per week for that worker:

a worker for whom the number of prescribed weekly working days is less than the number of days prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as constituting a number that is considerably lower than the number of prescribed weekly working days of an ordinarily employed worker;

a worker whose number of prescribed working days is calculated on the basis of units of time rather than weeks, and whose number of prescribed annual working days is less than the number of days prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in consideration of the number of prescribed annual working days of a worker whose number of prescribed weekly working days is the number determined when one day is added to the number prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, referred to in the preceding item and of other circumstances.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs, if an employer provides for the following particulars in a written agreement with the labor union that is organized by a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is one, or with a person representing a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is no such union, and a worker who falls within the range of workers stated in item (i) requests paid leave by the hour, the employer, pursuant to the provisions of that agreement, may grant the worker paid leave by the hour for the number of days of paid leave under the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs, that are stated in item (ii):

the range of workers to whom it is decided paid leave by the hour may be granted;

the number of days of paid leave that it is decided may be granted by the hour (limited to less than five days);

other particulars prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

An employer must grant paid leave under the provisions of each of the preceding paragraphs at the worker's requested period; provided, however, that if granting the leave at the requested period would interfere with the normal operation of the business, the employer may grant leave at a different period instead.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if an employer, in a written agreement with the labor union that is organized by a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is one, or with a person representing a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is no such union, has provided for the time period at which it provides the paid leave under the provisions of paragraphs (1) through (3), the employer may provide the portion of a worker's paid leave under the provisions of those paragraphs that exceeds 5 days, based on that agreement.

For each worker, an employer must grant five days of the paid leave under the provisions of paragraphs (1) through (3) (limited to the paid leave associated with workers to whom the employer must grant 10 working days or more of paid leave pursuant to those provisions; the same applies below in this paragraph and the following paragraph) within one year of the base date (meaning the first day of each of the one-year sub-periods into which the period of continuous employment is divided beginning at the six-months elapsed date (including any period of less than one year constituting the last of those sub-periods)) at the period the employer sets; provided, however, that if an employer decides to grant that paid leave under the provisions of paragraphs (1) through (3) before the base date with which it is associated, it must grant that leave by setting the period for each worker, pursuant to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if an employer has granted a worker the paid leave under paragraphs (1) through (3) pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (5) or (6), it is not required to grant leave at the period it determines for however many of the days of paid leave it has granted pursuant to those provisions (or five days, if the number of days of paid leave so granted exceeds five days).

Regarding the period of paid leave under the provisions of paragraphs (1) through (3) an employer must pay the average wage or the amount of wages that the worker would normally be paid for working the prescribed working hours pursuant to the rules of employment or anything equivalent to them; and for the hours of paid leave under the provisions of paragraph (4), an employer must pay the amount of wages calculated pursuant to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on the average wage or the amount of wages that the worker would normally be paid for working the prescribed working hours pursuant to the rules of employment or anything equivalent to them; provided, however, that if there is a written agreement with the labor union that is organized by a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is one, or with a person representing a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is no such union, which provides that the employer will pay an amount of money equivalent to one thirtieth of the monthly amount of standard remuneration provided for in paragraph (1) of Article 40 of the Health Insurance Law (Act No. 70 of 1922) for that period (with amounts of less than five yen rounded down to the nearest ten yen and amounts of at least five but less than ten yen rounded up to the nearest ten yen) or that the employer will pay an amount of money calculated pursuant to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on the previously mentioned amount for those hours, the payment of wages is governed by that agreement.

To apply the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2), a worker is deemed to have reported for work in a period during which the worker was absent from work due to medical treatment for an injury sustained or illness contracted at work, in a period during which the worker was on childcare leave prescribed in Article 2, item (i) of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members or was on family care leave prescribed in item (ii) of that Article, or in a period during which a female worker was absent from work before or after childbirth in accordance with the provisions of Article 65.