Japan's health ministry is asking for public comment on a draft cabinet order that names the illnesses for which workers' compensation claims could be filed within five years. Comments close on November 23, 2026, and the ministry's overview gives April 1, 2027 as the planned start.
Which illnesses are covered
The draft implements the Act Partially Amending the Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance Act (Law No. 60 of 2026). Under that law, the limitation period for claiming benefits is extended to five years where the illness behind the accident is one whose qualification as a compensable event cannot easily be judged by its nature. The draft order defines which illnesses fall in that category.
The overview lists three groups, each to be further defined by ministerial ordinance:
- cerebrovascular or heart disease;
- mental illness;
- disease caused by inhaling asbestos.
Three systems, one list
The five-year period applies across several claim routes. For workers' accident compensation insurance, it covers the right to receive medical compensation benefits and similar payments. For the seamen's insurance system, it covers the right to receive sickness allowance for leave from work, with diseases defined to follow the same three groups. For the Labor Standards Act, it covers claims for accident compensation, and the draft renames the existing ordinance on minimum overtime and holiday premium rates the Labor Standards Act Enforcement Order, with the disease list placed in its Article 2.
Other changes in the draft
The order also sets which welfare programmes for injured workers and their bereaved families fall under the review route of the workers' accident compensation insurance examiners and the Labor Insurance Appeal Committee. These include support for return to society, medical-care life, nursing care and children's schooling. A further amendment reflects that prefectural labour bureau chiefs may now be the original deciding authority in such appeals.
Timetable and how to comment
Promulgation is planned for December 2026 and enforcement for April 1, 2027. The comment window opened on October 22, 2026, and closes at 17:00 on November 23. Comments must be in Japanese, with reasons, and submitted through the e-Gov form, by email to the labour standards bureau's compensation administration division, or by post. The ministry asks that e-Gov be used where possible and says it cannot give individual replies.
The overview does not say whether the new period applies to claims already pending or to past cases, and it gives no cost estimate for employers. The detailed diseases within each group will be set by ministerial ordinance, not in this order.