My supervisor told me they’re not approving my menstrual leave and instead I’ll have to use one of my yearly vacation days. My workplace has paid menstrual leave and my supervisor said that they have the power to not approve it, so I told them I will take unpaid menstrual leave. They’re threatening “punitive actions” in response.
I’m not too sure about Japanese law, but I thought menstrual leave was legally required. Does anyone know if this is allowed?
I work a job Monday to Friday with regular hours, so it’s not part-time shift work if that makes a different.
Update: thank you to everyone for their comments! I’m glad to know that I wasn’t misunderstanding the law. This morning I got to work to an email from them doubling down on their right to reject my menstrual leave. They said if I would like to proceed with processing the day as unpaid leave they will mark it down as 欠勤 which they say will result in punitive measures. And conveniently in their email they had admitted to have rejected the menstrual leave of other coworkers.
I have informed them that I will be seeking legal consultation.
They are trying to push the narrative that Japanese people would never take menstrual leave and that by doing so I am failing on my work obligations.
by Constantlyshivering