Here’s the first part of the post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/123ghp9/can\_a\_company\_reject\_the\_extension\_of\_maternity/](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/123ghp9/can_a_company_reject_the_extension_of_maternity/)
I feel like it’s become a different issue, so I will post a new post. Please any and all advice, knowledge is wanted. I am planning to consult Hello Work in English, and my husband (Japanese) will consult later in Japanese.
I work for an international school (I’ll call it “FLOWER”) which until February 2023, was owned by Company A. I signed a contract with Company A for FLOWER and have been working there since April of 2020. I went on maternity leave in November of 2021, gave birth in January of 2022, and have been on an extended leave which has been approved since my son (1y2m) has been rejected from daycare. We have the letter from the city office and have since been filing it.
I emailed to ask for an extension for April 2023 since my son again did not get in with a picture of the letter from the city office. That lead to to the first post in the link above.
Here is an update which is why I felt like this summary was needed, but my husband called Company B and they explained that when Company A was doing the handover of FLOWER, they said which employees were worth keeping and which were not BECAUSE FLOWER is in major debt. Therefore, I was told to be one of the employees who should be fired and consequently my contract with Company A was terminated. Company A NEVER contacted me to let me know of said termination. (I am aware that is illegal to fire someone during maternity leave in Japan.)
Company B as a result has been trying to get me a new contract to sign with them along with trying to find a daycare my son could be put in that has space available. The reason why is since I’m no longer a seishaiin, that I no longer am entitled to getting paid maternity leave.
My husband called Company A to get an understanding because we are both very furious at this result and how awful Company A is. They said they will look into and call my husband back.
This is where I stand, but very clearly since I know it’s illegal to fire someone during maternity leave, does anyone know what is the best route from here? I will consult Hello Work after my baby goes down for a nap.
Will update as well once Company A responds and with what Hello Work tells both my husband and I. Thank you!
13 comments
Hello Work is the wrong office.
You want the labour bureau.
If they’ve terminated you during maternity leave, it’s fairly major, and there are penalties attached.
Good luck!
You’ll have to consult with a lawyer or the labor office but I’ll give you my perspective as an employer. You were fired during an extended maternity leave because you were having trouble getting your child into day care.
They may argue that it wasn’t actually maternity leave because the child had already been born and the issue was day care. In the US that would probably be considered childcare leave rather than maternity leave but IDK if Japan has an equivalent.
The other issue was that you were fired because the company was facing financial hardship. That is the wildcard that sometimes allows companies to skirt the labor laws that apply under normal circumstances. You need to consult with an expert on this because your case is more complicated than simple maternity leave, IMO.
Unfortunately, you are not on 産休 or 産休明け(6 weeks prior to giving birth and 8 weeks after giving birth +30days) but on 育休 which can be fired under the same conditions as normal employees.
The company in deep financial hardship is one of those conditions they can fire employees.
So you were a seishain and not on a fixed term contract?
If so there are multiple problems here and you need a lawyer.
There is the issue of firing you on a protected leave and there is the issue of firing a seishain. This plus your comment about Company A being in debt or possibly insolvent, makes this a complex situation.
So please, organize your dates and docs and go get yourself some legal representation as soon as possible.
Why did you become pregnant in the first year you got accepted to a company is the real question in Japan. They won’t say it, but once they accept you as a full time, they expect you to be there Full time. It is a big problem in Japan because of this maternity leave. Because companies have to pay for someone who actually isn’t at work for a lot of months. They get the Full time assurance, and then get pregnant and leave with a paycheck. That is why 産休 is still frowned on when it is the Male who has to leave.
Answering your question, I think the 労働基準局 is one good answer but a Lawyer is what you need. But if your company / school is a big one or famous school, good luck to you because the odds are going to be against you.
Good luck 😃
Lawyer.
Lawyer lawyer lawyer.
… Lawyer.
The labor bureau will probably give you very general guidance that “the law is roughly like X, but it depends on Y and Z,” and then if you want to actually do anything, you’ll need to go through a lawyer or labor union. So sure, talk to the labor bureau if you like, but it’s almost certainly just a step towards a lawyer.
I’m pretty sure paid maternity/childcare leave also covers fixed-term contract employees as well as dispatch employees. I could be wrong, but whoever gave you the excuse that you’re no longer eligible since you’re no longer seishain is either misinformed or trying to pull one over on you.
As someone who was fired during childcare leave- if you sue, you are not going to get a lot of money and you will still have no job. You also won’t have any referral going forward into your next job.
You will likely get an out of court settlement as only group cases or cases where someone died will go to court. I got half a months salary as compensation.
Also, prepare for the character assassination they will launch to say you were a bad employee etc.
If you can prove mental stress or bad outcome for your kid that can bolster your case.
I’m not sure about the rest but you absolutely don’t have to be a seishain to have paid childcare leave (childcare leave is the proper term, maternity leave just just for up until 8 weeks postpartum)
I work part time and took a full year of childcare leave. The only requirement is to be enrolled in unemployment insurance for at least a year beforehand. And the requirement for unemployment insurance is just to be working over 20 hours a week and to expect to be employed for 31 days or more
Now one requirement for childcare leave is that you have been employed for at least a year beforehand at that company so I’m not sure how it works when the company technically changes
Googling in Japanese these are the exact requirements for childcare leave
> There are two requirements for receiving the “childcare leave benefits”:
(1) I was insured by employment insurance and took “childcare leave” on the premise of returning to work to take care of a child under the age of one. (Temporary employees are also eligible for the payment, but they must meet certain conditions, such as being continuously employed by the same employer for at least one year.)
>② In the two years before the start date of childcare leave, there must be a total of 12 months or more in which the number of paid working days (basic days for wage payment) is 11 or more. As shown in the figure, it is possible to add up if you have worked at two or more establishments in the past two years and have not received unemployment benefits after leaving your previous job.
Honestly in your case you need to get a lawyer I’m sure as this case is too complicated and specific to understand. Googling key words related to this in Japanese would definitely get you more info than English though
Afaik you can’t fire somebody during maternity leave or for 30 days afterwards but it is possible to fire somebody during childcare leave, as long as you’re not firing them FOR being on childcare leave, as that would be discriminatory. But other issues in the company could be valid
Being on an extended maternity leave may mean that protection is no longer valid. They did you a favor by allowing that, but having an employee who still can’t work for an extended period of time no longer seems like a good employee to have, especially when there are money troubles in the company. That “no firing during maternity leave” law is meant to protect women who take standard leave, so there is no penalty for having children and they have some quality time and take care of them during those first few months.
Legally, I dunno, you may or may not have a case, but given your circumstances, I wouldn’t say they did anything wrong.
Dismissal for maternity leave is clearly illegal. But it is not illegal to fire someone during maternity leave if the reason is the company’s poor performance. It is wrong for the company not to inform you of this, though.
You are in a difficult situation right now, and since you don’t trust the company, I would suggest that you might consider resigning for the 会社都合退職 and receiving 失業手当 as an option.
Pretty sure its illegal to fire people during maternity. Sue.
Please contact torgs@tozenunion.org,
And we can help you with some advice about your labour rights, and what to do, where to go, and who to speak to