"Japanese Companies Recognizing De Facto Marriages Provide Childcare Leave and Benefits Even Without Marriage Registration"

No Exclusion in Internal Regulations at 37 Out of 64 Companies
Common-law Employees Also Receive Marriage Bonuses and Leave

A survey revealed that a significant number of major Japanese companies recognize common-law marriages without official marriage registration and provide employees in such relationships with parental leave and family allowances on par with those in legal marriages.

On the 8th, Mainichi Shimbun reported the results of a survey conducted from January to February targeting major Japanese corporations (64 respondent companies). The results showed that more than half of the surveyed large companies, 37 companies (57.8%), treat common-law marriages and legal marriages equally in their internal welfare regulations. Employees in common-law marriages at these companies receive benefits such as marriage congratulatory money, parental leave, and family allowances just like legally married employees. These companies verify common-law spouses through documents such as resident registration certificates.

A scene of a street in Japan. Pixabay

Among the companies recognizing common-law marriages, 18 stated that they revised their regulations within the past five years. Reasons for the revisions included "diversification of values due to changes in family and marriage patterns" and "increasing demand for common-law marriage." Mainichi assessed this as "a trend of companies flexibly responding to diverse demands."

On the other hand, companies that do not treat common-law marriages equally cited reasons such as "because the state does not legally recognize it" and "legal marriage is appropriate for confirming marital status." However, some of these companies are considering revising their regulations. The media outlet reported, "There is a recent increase in companies aiming to treat common-law marriages equally to legal marriages," adding, "As competition for talent intensifies, companies are trying to accommodate the diverse demands of younger generations to be chosen."

According to the Japanese Cabinet Office's 2022 survey of 10,906 people asking about types of marriage?'legal marriage,' 'common-law marriage,' 'cohabitation,' 'separation,' 'bereavement,' and 'single'?3.3% responded that they were in a common-law marriage. One reason Japanese people choose common-law marriage is that they do not want to change their surname after marriage.

Japan mandates that married couples use the same surname. Therefore, when submitting a marriage registration form, couples are required to unify their surnames, and over 90% of women change their surname.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Nihon Keizai Shimbun from the 4th to the 7th of last month targeting 2,347 people about the optional separate surname system for couples found that 52% of married women who changed their surname due to marriage said they would not have changed it if separate surnames were allowed. The optional separate surname system permits spouses to use different surnames and is actively discussed in political circles, though the conservative faction of the Liberal Democratic Party opposes it.

In this survey, 28% of unmarried women responded that they would want to enter into a legal marriage if they could choose separate surnames, more than three times the 8% of men who responded similarly.