Both I and wife live in Japan and work (as company employees) for more than 5 years. Last October we had a baby and my wife went on full-length childcare leave after her maternity leave ended. Her company helped to apply for govt. subsidy (I believe it is 67% of salary up to 180 days and then something like 50%, capped to somewhere up to 400k/200k-ish/month which is better than unpaid).
Due to personal circumstances and fact that we are both expats and our closest relatives who could help us are 8000km away I started considering some unpaid leave so I can help around and spend more time with both my wife and our baby. I recently found there’s option for both parents to go on childcare leave until baby’s 1st birthday with same benefits called パパ・ママ育休プラス.
Just wanted to ask if someone is familiar with this and eventually tried it out. I wonder if I can take this after 4 months and are still eligible as I originally took 3+1 weeks non-primary caregiver leave right after baby was born. Also if I understand it correctly that both 67% -> 50% subsidy applies to me as well (that’s not really major concern, but hey, it would be nice). Of course I asked my company HR as I work with my manager on plan suitable for both sides, but my company uses proxy company to handle Japanese policies so it takes quite long time to get answers.
2 comments
My husband and I both took the full year of leave and it was an absolute game changer compared to how it was in the US with our first child (I went back after 16 weeks and he could only cut his hours but couldn’t take full leave). My gut says you should be able to start even 4 months in but you should check with your employer to confirm and to figure out how to make it happen.
Normally a parent can take childcare leave until the child turns 1. However, パパママ育休プラス makes it so if both parents take childcare leave, then you’re allowed to take childcare leave until the child turns 1 year and 2 months. However, the total time one parent takes off cannot exceed one year. For example, if dad starts his childcare leave on the day the baby is born, he’d have to go back when the baby turns one as usual, but mom can stay home until the baby is 14 months, because the first two months count as maternity leave, not childcare leave, if that makes sense.
In your case, if you just want a little time off, you don’t need to do the above system. Regular childcare leave should cover you if you start your leave any time before your child turns 1 year. The law now allows each parent to take childcare leave twice, so it doesn’t matter if you already took some time off before and went back to work. You’ll get paid 2/3 of your salary for the first 6 months you take off, and 1/2 for the remainder.
Here’s info I wrote on this topic before:
https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/uspfch/revised_childcare_leave_law/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button