①A worker who looks after a applicable family member requiring caregiving as specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, including caregiver, may obtain short-term leave to look after the applicable family member (hereinafter referred to as "short-term leave for caregiver") upon application to the worker's employer, with limits of up to five working days per fiscal year (or ten working days in cases where the worker has two or more applicable family members requiring caregiving).

②Short-term leave for caregiver may be obtained in a unit of less than one day as prescribed in Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare by persons other than those prescribed in the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as employees whose scheduled working hours per day are short.

③An application pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) must be filed by making clear that the applicable family member subject to the application is requiring caregiving and the days required as short-term leave for caregiver (in the case of taking short-term leave in a unit of less than one day as prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare according to the preceding paragraph, the time and date of starting and ending the short-term leave for caregiver), as prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

④A fiscal year as referred to in paragraph (1) refers to a period that begins on April 1 and ends on March 31 of the following year unless otherwise provided for by the employer.

①Employers may not, when an application pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article is filed by a worker, refuse the application.

②The provisions of the proviso to Article 6, paragraph (1) (limited to the part pertaining to item (ii)) and the provisions of paragraph (2) of the same Article apply mutatis mutandis to cases where a worker files an application pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article. In this case, the term "a person specified ... " in that item is deemed to be replaced with "a person specified ... or, in light of the nature of the work or the work system, a worker who is engaged in work for which it is considered difficult to take short-term leave for caregiver in a unit of less than one day as prescribed in the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare pursuant to Article 16-5, paragraph (2) (limited to a person who intends to take short-term leave in a unit of less than one day as prescribed in the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare pursuant to the provisions of the same paragraph) "; the term "the proviso of the preceding paragraph" in Article 6, paragraph (2) is deemed to be replaced with "the proviso of the preceding paragraph, as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 16-6, paragraph (2)"; and the term "paragraphs (1), (3) and (4) of the preceding Article" in paragraph (2) of the same Article is deemed to be replaced with "Article 16-5, paragraph (1)."

The provisions of Article 16 apply mutatis mutandis to applications and short-term leave for caregiver pursuant to the provisions of Article 16-5, paragraph (1).