Trying to figure out the maternity leave situation with my girlfriend. She's due next week and she has stopped working for about 2 months now. My understanding is that there are 2 types of leave. Maternity leave(sankyu) which starts about 6 weeks before the due date and childcare leave(ikukyu) which starts after the baby is born. Now regarding the payments, they told us at the hospital that we need to apply after the baby is born and it takes 3-4 months to receive the first payment. I just wanted to confirm if that's the case or whether there is a separate application we can do before the baby is born to receive the maternity leave (sankyu) payments.
by muku_