Work and employment労働

Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Retirement Allowance Cooperative Act

中小企業退職金共済法（ちゅうしょうきぎょうたいしょくきんきょうさいほう）

A retirement allowance scheme for the employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, in which the employer pays premiums (掛金) to the Organization for Workers' Retirement Allowance Mutual Aid () and, when an employee leaves, the Organization pays the retirement allowance (退職金) directly to them.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 104
Amendments on the way: 0

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What this law does

Only a small and medium-sized enterprise (中小企業者) may conclude a retirement allowance mutual aid contract (退職金共済契約) with the Organization. That is an employer, other than the State, a local government or a similar body a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, that regularly employs no more than 300 employees, or is a corporation with capital or total contributions of no more than 300 million yen. Where its main business is wholesale the figures are 100 employees or 100 million yen, in services 100 employees or 50 million yen, and in retail 50 employees or 50 million yen.(Art. 3(1), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(1)(i), Art. 2(1)(ii), Art. 2(1)(iii), Art. 2(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

A small and medium-sized enterprise must see to it that it concludes retirement allowance mutual aid contracts for all its employees, except those employed for a fixed term, in seasonal work or on probation, those already covered by a contract, those whose contract was cancelled less than a year before because they obtained or tried to obtain a payment by fraud, and others a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names. No penalty in Chapter 9 (罰則) reaches this duty, and the Act gives the Organization no power to act on it. The enterprise may not apply to enroll an employee against that employee's will, must hear its employees' views before concluding a contract, and may not treat employees with unfair discrimination in connection with the contract.(Art. 3(3), Art. 8(2)(iii), Art. 89(1), Art. 3(4), Art. 8(2), Art. 6(1), Art. 36(1), Art. 36(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Each covered employee has a monthly premium (掛金月額) of 5,000 to 30,000 yen, or from 2,000 yen for one whose weekly working hours on the day of application are shorter than a regular employee's and below the hours the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, in steps of 1,000 yen up to 10,000 yen and of 2,000 yen above it. The employer pays each month's premium by the end of the next month (by the end of the month after next for the first month), and may not pay a month's premium in parts. The Organization must accept an increase, but may accept a reduction only with the covered employee's consent or where the Minister finds that continuing the premiums would be extremely difficult.(Art. 4(1), Art. 4(2), Art. 4(3), Art. 22(1), Art. 22(2), Art. 9(1), Art. 9(2), Art. 8(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
When a covered employee (被共済者) leaves the employer, the Organization pays the retirement allowance to them, or, if they left by dying, to their bereaved family (遺族) in the order Article 14 sets, beginning with the spouse, including a partner in a de facto marriage; nothing is paid where premiums were paid for fewer than 12 months. A Cabinet Order sets the amount by the monthly premium and the months paid: less than the premiums paid for 23 months or fewer (equal to them on death), equal to them for 24 to 42 months, and more than them from 43 months, plus, from then, an addition at a rate the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets for each year in light of the investment income. A person who kills the covered employee by an intentional crime cannot receive the allowance, nor can one who, before the employee's death, so kills a person who would have received it on that death.(Art. 2(2), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 10(4), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2), Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The allowance is paid as a lump sum, but at the employee's request the Organization may pay all or part of it in instalments every February, May, August and November over five or ten years, unless the employee was under 60 on leaving or the sums fall below amounts a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets. The right to it lapses if not exercised for five years from when it could be, and it cannot be assigned, pledged or seized, except seizure of the employee's right for unpaid national taxes. A covered employee who is a minor may claim the allowance or cancellation refund on their own.(Art. 11(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(3), Art. 12(4), Art. 33(1), Art. 20(1), Art. 19(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A contract can be cancelled only as the Act allows. The employer may cancel it with the covered employee's consent, or where the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare finds continuing the premiums extremely difficult; the Organization must cancel it where the employer has failed to pay premiums for the number of months a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets without a good reason that Order recognises, has stopped being a small and medium-sized enterprise (unless the Minister approved continuing in advance), or the employee obtained or tried to obtain a payment by fraud. On cancellation the employee receives a cancellation refund (解約手当金), worked out as the allowance is and again only after 12 months of premiums, but none where the cancellation was for fraud, save in special circumstances a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2), Art. 8(3), Art. 16(1), Art. 16(2), Art. 16(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
An employee who leaves and, within three years and without claiming the allowance, is employed by a small and medium-sized enterprise again and becomes covered may ask for the months of premiums under the two contracts to be added together, unless all or part of the value of the allowance has been handed to a body running another retirement allowance scheme. This needs 12 months or more under the earlier contract, or, with fewer, a finding by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare that the leaving was neither the employee's fault nor their own choice, a choice made for an unavoidable reason a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets not counting against them. Months can also be carried over between the general scheme and a specified-industry scheme, and between two specified industries, on the conditions Articles 46 and 55 set.(Art. 18(1), Art. 31(1), Art. 46(1), Art. 55(1), Art. 55(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
A specified industry (特定業種) is one, such as construction, in which many employees normally move between many businesses in the industry, and which the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare designates. A small and medium-sized enterprise in such an industry may conclude a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract (特定業種退職金共済契約) for the workers it employs for a fixed term who normally work in that industry; all of them, including those hired later, are then covered, except those already covered by a contract of either scheme, others a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, and any the employer chooses to leave out from among the kinds that Order allows, such as workers on especially short hours, and no general contract can then be concluded for a covered worker. Such a contract can likewise be cancelled only as the Act allows: by the employer with the consent of three quarters of the covered workers or where the Minister finds continuing the premiums extremely difficult, and by the Organization where the employer fails, without a good reason a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order recognises, to pay the share of premiums that Order sets over a period it sets, stops being a small and medium-sized enterprise (unless the Minister approved continuing in advance) or stops running a business in that industry.(Art. 2(4), Art. 2(5), Art. 39(1), Art. 41(1), Art. 41(2), Art. 41(3), Art. 41(4), Art. 54(1), Art. 54(2), Art. 42(1), Art. 42(2), Art. 42(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
In a specified industry, premiums are set by the day, at one amount for the industry between 300 and 800 yen per worker, in the Organization's rules for the scheme (特定業種退職金共済規程), and the employer pays them each time it pays wages by sticking retirement allowance mutual aid stamps (退職金共済証紙) into the worker's passbook and cancelling them, or, in industries the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare designates, in cash where it reports the workers' work records to the Organization online. The allowance is paid when the worker dies, or when the worker has left and, without becoming covered again, can no longer work in the industry through injury or illness, has come to be employed by an employer outside the industry or meets another case a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, or leaves after one of these. Nothing is paid unless the days of premiums, converted into months as a Cabinet Order sets, reach 24 months, or 12 on death or in industries the Minister designates; a Cabinet Order sets the amount for each industry.(Art. 44(1), Art. 44(3), Art. 44(4), Art. 44(5), Art. 43(1), Art. 43(4), Art. 43(5)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

Who may joinEmployees to be coveredMonthly premiumsRetirement allowanceCancelling a contractCarrying over months of premiumsSpecified industriesAppeals

104 633 208 54 182

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

10 amendments already in force

1 June 2025
The text on this site
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
The 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
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 May 2022
Act Partially Amending the National Pension Act, etc. to Strengthen the Functions of the Pension System
年金制度の機能強化のための国民年金法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 October 2020
Act Partially Amending the Act on Use of Information and Communications Technology in Administrative Procedures, etc., and Other Acts to Improve Convenience for Persons Concerned in Administrative Procedures, etc. and to Simplify and Streamline Administrative Operations through the Use of Information and Communications Technology
情報通信技術の活用による行政手続等に係る関係者の利便性の向上並びに行政運営の簡素化及び効率化を図るための行政手続等における情報通信の技術の利用に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
5 June 2020
Act Partially Amending the National Pension Act, etc. to Strengthen the Functions of the Pension System
年金制度の機能強化のための国民年金法等の一部を改正する法律
The 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
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
31 May 2019
Act Partially Amending the Act on Use of Information and Communications Technology in Administrative Procedures, etc., and Other Acts to Improve Convenience for Persons Concerned in Administrative Procedures, etc. and to Simplify and Streamline Administrative Operations through the Use of Information and Communications Technology
情報通信技術の活用による行政手続等に係る関係者の利便性の向上並びに行政運営の簡素化及び効率化を図るための行政手続等における情報通信の技術の利用に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 May 2018
Act Partially Amending the Defined Contribution Pension Act, etc.
確定拠出年金法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
2 June 2017
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
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 January 2017
Act Partially Amending the Defined Contribution Pension Act, etc.
確定拠出年金法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Small and medium-sized enterprises (中小企業者), which alone may join, and, once they have, as contracting employers (共済契約者) who pay the premiums and carry the duties to employees and the Organization the Act sets.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(6), Art. 3(1), Art. 22(1), Art. 35(1), Art. 37(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Covered employees (被共済者) and their bereaved families, who receive the benefit of the contract as of right, though the contract is between the employer and the Organization.(Art. 2(6), Art. 2(7), Art. 5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

2 more

In a specified industry (特定業種), the small and medium-sized enterprises in it and the workers they employ for a fixed term who normally work in the industry.(Art. 39(1), Art. 41(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Organization for Workers' Retirement Allowance Mutual Aid (), which the Act sets up to run the scheme, whose chair and directors must act loyally in investing the scheme's surplus funds, and whose officers and staff must keep secrets learned on duty; it also runs business promoting workers' asset formation under a separate Act (勤労者財産形成促進法).(Art. 57(1), Art. 58(1), Art. 70(1), Art. 70(2), Art. 60(1), Art. 63(1), Art. 65(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (8)

For a contracting employer that regularly employs fewer than five employees, the Organization may extend the premium deadline by up to three months, as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides. For any employer, it may extend the deadline where a natural disaster or other unavoidable cause prevents payment on time.(Art. 26(1), Art. 26(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
To encourage enterprises to join and employers to raise premiums, the Organization may reduce the premium for certain months, as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides, and those months count as paid at the full premium when the allowance or cancellation refund is worked out, though the Organization may reduce the cancellation refund when such a contract is cancelled. In the specified-industry scheme it may instead waive premiums for certain days, which count as paid; the State may subsidise the cost each year within its budget.(Art. 23(1), Art. 23(2), Art. 16(4), Art. 45(1), Art. 45(2), Art. 83(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
An employer applying that has no contracts yet for its employees may ask, when it applies, to add each employee's past service with it, in whole years and up to 120 months, less periods a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets when the employee was of a kind not required to be covered, to the months of premiums, and must ask it for all employees becoming covered at the same time. It then pays a monthly past-service premium (過去勤務掛金) for five years, or for the years of past service if fewer, and the allowance is worked out under Article 29 instead of the general rule.(Art. 27(1), Art. 27(2), Art. 28(1), Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the Organization takes in the value of an allowance from a body running another retirement allowance scheme, the 12-month minimum does not apply and the allowance is worked out with that money under Article 30. Where it takes in money from such a body that has closed its scheme, or assets of the employer's defined-benefit corporate pension (確定給付企業年金) or corporate-type defined-contribution pension (企業型年金), schemes separate Acts govern, part of the money is turned into months of premiums, no more than the months the employee was in the earlier scheme, and the rest is added to the allowance under Articles 31-2 and 31-3; only where money is left over after that does the 12-month minimum not stop payment. In the other direction, an employee who leaves and, within a period a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets and without claiming the allowance, comes under another retirement allowance scheme the Organization has an agreement with may ask for the allowance's value to be handed to that scheme, and any shortfall is paid to them.(Art. 30(1), Art. 30(2), Art. 31-2(1), Art. 31-2(2), Art. 31-2(3), Art. 31-3(1), Art. 31-3(2), Art. 31-3(3), Art. 31(1), Art. 31(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a contract is cancelled because the employer has stopped being a small and medium-sized enterprise and the employer reports that it runs a defined-benefit corporate pension (確定給付企業年金), a corporate-type defined-contribution pension (企業型年金) or another scheme a Cabinet Order names, schemes separate Acts govern, the cancellation refund is not paid to the employee, and the employer may, with the employee's consent and within a period a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, ask for it to be handed to that scheme. The employee is paid the cancellation refund after all if no request is made, if they leave or die before the scheme starts, or in other cases that Order sets, and is paid any shortfall where less than the full amount is handed over. The cancellation refund is likewise moved into such a pension, at the employer's request with the employee's consent, where an employer that has merged, split or done another act a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names runs one for employees whose contracts were cancelled with their consent because of it, unless they leave or die before it starts or in other cases that Order sets.(Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 17(3), Art. 31-4(1), Art. 31-4(2), Art. 31-4(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a covered employee left through a cause attributable to them and the employer asks, the Organization may pay a reduced allowance if the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare finds it appropriate under criteria a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 10(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
For covered employees who are seafarers under the Mariners Act (船員法), a separate Act, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and that Ministry's Orders take the place of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and that Ministry's Orders in deciding on a reduced allowance for leaving through their own fault, and in finding, when months are carried over, that a seafarer's leaving was not their fault.(Art. 86(1), Art. 86(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
After a specified-industry contract takes effect, the employer may widen or narrow the kinds of worker it leaves out, but to widen them it needs the consent of three quarters of the current employees who would stop being covered, unless the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare finds continuing their premiums extremely difficult. When the Organization starts the scheme for a newly designated specified industry, it may also, with the Minister's authorisation, leave workers in certain occupations or areas uncovered for a set period of no more than five years from the start.(Art. 41(6), Art. 41(7), Art. 52(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (7)

Chapter 9 (罰則) punishes with a fine of up to 300,000 yen an employer that fails to tell a covered employee that a contract has been concluded, cancelled or had its premium changed, to show the passbook (退職金共済手帳) when the employee asks, to hand it over without delay, unless there is an unavoidable reason, when the employee leaves or the contract is cancelled, or to issue the certificates needed to claim a payment. The same fine applies to a specified-industry employer that fails to give a covered worker the passbook, to tell a new hire whether they will be covered, or to make known that it has stopped being a contracting employer, and to an employer that fails to notify the Organization, or notifies it falsely, when it stops being a small and medium-sized enterprise (in a specified industry, one in that industry) or, in the general scheme, when a covered employee leaves. Where an employee or agent of a company or person commits one of these acts in its business, the company or person is fined as well.(Art. 89(1)(i), Art. 89(1)(ii), Art. 7(2), Art. 8(5), Art. 9(4), Art. 35(1), Art. 35(2), Art. 35(3), Art. 48(2), Art. 49(1), Art. 49(2), Art. 37(1), Art. 50(1), Art. 91(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
An officer or staff member of the Organization, or a member of its asset management committee, who discloses a secret learned in the course of duty, even after leaving the post, faces imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 65(1), Art. 69-4(4), Art. 88(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Organization may make an employer that pays premiums late pay a surcharge (割増金) of no more than 14.6% a year on the premium, counted from the day after the deadline to the day before payment. The right to collect premiums and past-service premiums, and the right to have them refunded, lapse if not exercised for two years from when they could be.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 33(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Once the Organization accepts an application, the contract counts as formed on the day of application and takes effect from that day. The Organization may refuse one only where the applicant had a contract cancelled for unpaid premiums less than six months before, the employee's earlier contract was cancelled for fraud less than a year before, or for a good reason a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 7(1), Art. 3(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Organization may ask contracting employers and covered employees for reports or documents as far as it needs to run the scheme. It may recover a payment obtained by fraud, recover it from the employer jointly with the recipient where it rested on the employer's false certificate or notice, and set what is owed off against a payment it later owes.(Art. 38(1), Art. 21(1), Art. 21(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare decides several questions a reader may meet: whether continuing the premiums is extremely difficult, whether a reduced allowance is appropriate for an employee who left through their own fault, whether a leaving was neither the employee's fault nor their own choice when months are carried over, and each year's rate for the addition to the allowance.(Art. 8(3)(ii), Art. 10(5), Art. 18(1), Art. 10(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
A contracting employer, covered employee or other person entitled to a payment who objects to a matter of rights and duties under a contract may apply to the Labor Insurance Appeal Committee (労働保険審査会) for review, within three months of learning the facts unless they show a good reason for missing that period. This does not stop them from going straight to court.(Art. 84(1), Art. 84(2), Art. 84(4)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

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It also names 17 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

1,189

The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)中小企業退職金共済法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)中小企業退職金共済法 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of Justice中小企業退職金共済法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists itOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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