Childcare Support
Systems for Special Leaves, Childcare Absences, and Working Hours

1. Special Leave, Restrictions on Overtime Work, and Exemption from the Obligation to Give Undivided Attention to Duty

Here, we describe support systems related to childbirth and childcare available for employees of the National Institutes of Natural Science (NINS), including those belonging to the Astrobiology Center. RCUH employees in Hawai`i and local employees in Chile are subject to the local labor-related laws.

(1) Special Leave

The following table summarizes the types of Special Leave related to childbirth and childcare. Prior to taking Special Leave, employees are required to submit a request for leave through the Leave Ledger. Note that Contract Employees are unpaid during Prenatal/Postnatal Leave. (However, when calculating the days of Annual Leave for next year, they are considered to have worked during that period.)

Type of Special Leave	Description	Period
Prenatal Leave (for female employees)	Granted for the requested period leading up to the delivery date, when requested by a female employee expecting to give birth within six weeks (or eight weeks in the case of multiple pregnancies) *1	Refer to the “Description” column to the left.
Postnatal Leave (for female employees)	Granted for a period of eight weeks (or six weeks if they wish to engage in duties that their doctors confirmed to be safe) from the date of childbirth	Refer to the “Description” column to the left.
Paternity Leave (for regular male employees)	Granted to regular male employees during periods of Prenatal and Postnatal Leave for their wife (including common-law) to care for the child born during that period, or for their other preschool children	Up to five days during the said period (Leave can be requested in one-day or one-hour increments.)
Childcare (for employees of both genders)	Granted to employees raising children under the age of one year to provide necessary care such as breastfeeding or picking up/dropping off their children at a daycare center	Up to 30 minutes twice a day*2
Accompanying Leave (for regular male employees)	Granted to male employees to accompany their wife to the hospital	Up to two days (can be divided into one-day increments) during the period from the day of hospitalization to the day two weeks after childbirth
Child Medical Leave (for employees of both genders)	Granted for providing medical care (including vaccination and medical examination) for children under junior-high-school-age*3	Up to five days during one calendar year, or up to 10 days when an employee has two or more eligible children.

^*1About the handling of the expected and actual dates of delivery
The prenatal period ends on the day of delivery, after which the postnatal period starts. When there is a discrepancy between the expected and actual delivery dates, the periods of Prenatal Leave and Postnatal Leave shall be adjusted as below so that no gap will appear between these periods.

[1]When the actual delivery date is ahead of schedule

Prenatal Leave: shortened to the actual date of delivery
Postnatal Leave: period of eight weeks (or six weeks) from the next day after the delivery

[2]When the actual delivery date is behind schedule

Postnatal Leave: extended to the actual date of delivery
Postnatal Leave: period of eight weeks (or six weeks) from the next day of the delivery

^*2A note for male employees
When the spouse of a male employee is approved to take equivalent leave, or requests time for providing childcare as stipulated in Article 67 of the Labor Standards Act, an amount of time equivalent to the time used by the spouse under the system shall be deducted from the time allotted to the male employee.

^*3A note on the age of children
The number of days of Child Medical Leave you are to be granted depends on the number of children you have at the time of your request. Thus, there may be a situation where your number of leave days is reduced from 10 days to five days because of your child entering junior high school. However, even in such cases, the leave period in excess of five days will be treated as Special Leave, not as unpaid leave, so that no disadvantage will be incurred. It is also possible to use all 10 days of the leave for caring for one child.

(2) Restrictions on Overtime Work

When requested by employees who have children to care for, restrictions on overtime work shall be applied as far as it does not impede NAOJ’s normal operations. This exemption is available to all employees regardless of gender.

	Child under the age of three	Pre-school-age child
Overtime work	Entirely exempted from overtime work	Restricted to 24 hours per month and to 150 hours per year
Late-night work	Entirely exempted from late-night work (between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.)

To request restrictions on overtime work, you must complete the procedures at the Employee Affairs Unit at least one day before your desired start date of the requested period (ranging from one month to one year).

(3) Exemption from the Obligation to Give Undivided Attention to Duty

Exemption from the Obligation to Give Undivided Attention to Duty^* allows employees to be absent from their duties under certain conditions. Although this is a different system from Annual Leave or Special Leave, applicants must submit a request through the Leave Ledger before receiving the benefits. The relevant periods of the exemption are as follows:

• Periods during which female employees who are expectant or nursing mothers are approved to receive health guidance or to undergo a physical examination as stipulated in the Maternal and Child Health Act (Act No. 141 of 1965).
• Periods during which female employees who are expectant or nursing mothers are approved to stay away from work for alleviating the burden of commuting, or for taking breaks, leaves, or supplementary nourishment.

^*Reference: Employee Regulations (Article 15) stipulates that “while performing their jobs, employees shall concentrate on their job duties and not be absent from the workplace without permission.”

(4) Reference: The Maternity Protection Provisions of the Labor Standards Act

In addition to maternity leave and restrictions on overtime work for pregnant or nursing employees, the Labor Standards Act stipulates that employers must transfer pregnant employees to light duty if requested.

2. Childcare Absence, Partial Childcare Absence, and Allocation of Working Hours

(1) Childcare Absence (Applicable: Regular Employees / Contract Employees^*1)

Childcare Absence allows employees to be exempted from their duties for a certain continuous period so that they can concentrate on childcare with their employment contract unaffected. Regular Employees can take Childcare Absence until the day before their child turns three years old, and Contract Employees can do so until the day before their child reaches one year and six months of age. Childcare Absence is available in principle only once per child. (Twins and other multiple births are considered as one.) To take Childcare Absence, employees must submit a leave request to the Personnel Unit by a month before the desired start date.

Childcare Absence can be withdrawn before it starts or can be extended after it starts, but the end date cannot be moved up. Note that you are unpaid during the absence period.

If you have any questions, contact the Personnel Unit.

^*1To take Childcare Absence, Contract Employees must fulfill both of the following requirements: [1] Their total employment period exceeds one year, and [2] Their employment contract does not expire until the day their child reaches one year and six months of age.
However, these requirements are only applicable to fixed-term employees and not to employees under the Mandatory Retirement System.

(2) Partial Childcare Absence (Applicable: Regular Employees (excluding those under the Discretionary Labor System) / Contract Employees^*2)

Partial Childcare Absence allows employees to be exempted from their duties for up to four hours at the beginning or the end of their regular working hours so that they can care for their children. Absence time can be taken in 30-minute increments. Regular Employees can take Partial Childcare Absence until the day before their child enters elementary school, while Contract Employees can do so until the day before their child turns three years old. The amount of hourly wage will be deducted according to the total hours of work you miss. To take Partial Childcare Absence, employees must submit a leave request to the Personnel Unit at least one month before your desired start date.

^*2If you are a Contract Employee, replace “four hours” with “half of the shift”.

(3) Shortening of Breaks (Applicable: Regular Employees (excluding those under the Discretionary Labor System) / Contract Employees)

Regular Employees can shorten their breaks to 45 minutes and go home earlier by changing their start/end times based on the designated work shifts when it is deemed necessary for them to care for their preschool children or to pick up their elementary school children at after-school care facilities. Regular Employees who wish to receive this support are required to submit an application to the Employee Affairs Unit by completing the prescribed form. Contract Employees, on the other hand, can shorten their breaks to 45 minutes from 12:15 p.m. to 13:00 p.m. and go home earlier. Prior to receiving this support, Contract Employees are required to contact the Personnel Unit.

(4) Allocation of Working Hours (Applicable: Regular Employees (excluding those under the Discretionary Labor System) / -)

Regular Employees can request a designated work shift (working hours allocation) when it is deemed necessary for them to care for their preschool children or to pick up their elementary school children at after-school care facilities.

Since NAOJ operates in a shift system starting on the first day of each month, please make sure to complete the procedure well in advance of the end of the previous month. A request should be submitted in the prescribed form to the Employee Affairs Unit.