Labor Standards Act

An employer must not assign a female worker stated in one of the following items to the operations provided for in that item:

a pregnant female worker or a female worker who is not yet one year postnatal and who notifies the employer that she will not engage in underground operations:all underground operations;

a female worker of 18 years of age or more other than one stated in the preceding item:manual underground excavation and other underground operations prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as operations hazardous to female workers.

An employer must not assign a pregnant female worker or a female worker who is not yet one year postnatal (referred to below as an "expectant or postnatal mother") to operations involving the handling of heavy objects, operations in places where harmful gas is generated, or other operations that are hazardous to factors such as pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing.

By Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the provisions of the preceding paragraph may be applied mutatis mutandis to female workers other than expectant or postnatal mothers, for operations provided for in that paragraph that are hazardous to female functions concerning pregnancy and childbirth.

Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prescribes the range of operations provided for in the preceding two paragraphs and the range of persons who must not be assigned to those operations pursuant to them.

If a female worker who is due to give birth within 6 weeks (or within 14 weeks, in the case of a multiple pregnancy) requests leave from work, the employer must not have her work.

An employer must not have a female worker who is not yet 8 weeks postnatal work; provided, however, that this does not prevent an employer from allowing a female worker who is at least 6 weeks postnatal to work, if she requests so, in operations that a doctor has approved as being non-detrimental to her.

If a pregnant female worker so requests, an employer must transfer her to other lighter operations.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 32-2, paragraph (1), Article 32-4, paragraph (1), and Article 32-5, paragraph (1), if an expectant or postnatal mother so requests, the employer must not have her work in excess of the working hours referred to in Article 32, paragraph (1) per week or in excess of the working hours referred to in paragraph (2) of that Article per day.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 33, paragraphs (1) and (3), and Article 36, paragraph (1), if an expectant or postnatal mother so requests, the employer must not have her work overtime or on days off.

If an expectant or postnatal mother so requests, the employer must not have her work at night.

A female worker raising a newborn baby less than one year old may request to have at least 30 minutes of time twice a day to care for that baby, in addition to the break times referred to in Article 34.

An employer must not have a female worker work during the childcare time referred to in the preceding paragraph.

If a female worker who finds it to be extremely difficult to work on the day of her menstrual period requests leave, the employer must not have her work on that day of her menstrual period.