Child Nursing Leave and Caregiver Leave Can Now Be Taken in Hourly Increments (Effective January 1, 2021)

✅ What is the "Child Nursing Leave" system?

Under the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, employees raising children before they enter elementary school may, upon request to their employer, take up to 5 days of child nursing leave per fiscal year (or 10 days if they have two or more children who have not yet reached the start of elementary school).

Note that day laborers are excluded from the employees eligible for this leave, and certain other employees may be excluded through a labor-management agreement.

✅ What is the "Caregiver Leave" system?

Under the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act, employees who provide care or assistance to family members in a condition requiring nursing care may, upon request to their employer, take up to 5 days of caregiver leave per fiscal year (or 10 days if they have two or more family members requiring such care or assistance).

The requirements for eligible employees are the same as those for child nursing leave.

✅ Hourly increments for child nursing leave and caregiver leave are now possible

Child nursing leave and caregiver leave have traditionally been taken in full-day or half-day increments (half of the prescribed daily working hours; or the number of hours defined as a half-day by labor-management agreement), but effective January 1, 2021, it will be possible to take this leave in 1-hour increments.

Additionally, while employers were previously not required to provide half-day leave to employees with prescribed daily working hours of 4 hours or less, effective January 1, 2021, these employees will also be able to take leave in 1-hour increments.

✅ Revision of Child Care and Family Care Leave Regulations is required

Revisions to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Regulations will be necessary.Furthermore, while the hourly leave for child nursing and caregiving is generally intended to be taken consecutively with the start or end of the workday, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare encourages employers to adopt a system that allows for so-called "mid-shift breaks" (taking leave in the middle of the day) as a measure exceeding the legal requirements. When revising the regulations, it is necessary to consider whether to allow such mid-shift breaks.

Also, if there are tasks for which taking leave in hourly increments is difficult, employees engaged in those tasks can be excluded from eligibility through a labor-management agreement; therefore, if such tasks exist, the conclusion of a labor-management agreement will also be required.

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