Article 5Application for Childcare Leave

①A worker may take childcare leave (excluding the parental leave prescribed in Article 9-2, paragraph (1); the same applies in this Article through Article 9) upon applying to their employer if the child that worker takes care of is less than one year of age; provided, however, that a person employed for a fixed period of time may only file that application in cases where it is not clear that the term of that person's labor contract (or, if the labor contract has been renewed, the renewed labor contract; the same applies in paragraph (3), Article 9-2, paragraph (1), and Article 11, paragraph (1)) expires before the date on which the child that worker takes care of reaches one year and six months of age.

②Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, a worker who has taken childcare leave (excluding childcare leave to be taken based on the application for childcare leave set forth in paragraph (7)) twice within the period before the date on which the child that worker takes care of reaches one year of age (hereinafter referred to as "date on which the child reaches one year of age") (excluding the period during which the worker does not take care of that child) may not file the application under the provisions of the preceding paragraph with regard to that child, except in cases where there are special circumstances specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

③A worker may take childcare leave upon applying to their employer if the child that worker takes care of is between one year and one year and six months of age, only when that worker falls under both of the following items (or, in cases where there are special circumstances specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, when that worker falls under item (ii)); provided, however, that a worker employed for a fixed term (excluding a worker who takes childcare leave on the date on which the child reaches one year of age and files an application in which the day following that day is deemed as the scheduled start date for childcare leave set forth in paragraph (6)) may only file that application, in cases where it is not clear that their labor contract expires before the date on which the child reaches one year and six months of age.

④A worker may take childcare leave upon applying to their employer if the child that worker takes care of is between one year and six months and two years of age, only when that worker falls under both of the following items (or, in cases where there are special circumstances specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare referred to in the preceding paragraph, if that worker falls under item (ii)).

⑤The provisions of the proviso of paragraph (1) apply mutatis mutandis to the application pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph. In this case, the term "one year and six months" in the proviso of paragraph (1) is deemed to be replaced with "two years."

⑥An application under the provisions of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) (hereinafter referred to as an "application for childcare leave") must be filed, with regard to a continued period for childcare leave, by making the first day thereof clear (hereinafter referred to as the "scheduled start date for childcare leave") and the last day thereof (hereinafter referred to as the "scheduled end date for childcare leave") as prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. In this case, applications set forth in the following items must be filed by deeming the day prescribed respectively in those items as the scheduled start date for childcare leave, except in cases where there are special circumstances specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare referred to in paragraph (3).

⑦The provisions of the proviso of paragraph (1), paragraph (2), paragraph (3) (excluding items (i) and (ii)), paragraph (4) (excluding items (i) and (ii)), paragraph (5), and the second sentence of the preceding paragraph do not apply to cases where a person employed for a fixed period of time who takes childcare leave, having designated the last day of the labor contract period as the scheduled end date for childcare leave (or, in cases where the relevant scheduled end date for childcare leave is changed pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (3), the changed scheduled end date for childcare leave) files an application for that childcare leave, due to the renewal of the labor contract, in which the first day of the renewed labor contract period is the scheduled start date for childcare leave.