Employees have the right to pregnancy or parental leave for pregnancy or childcare, childcare leave, and temporary childcare leave. According to the law, during these periods, there is no requirement to pay wages. The employer’s obligation to pay wages is based on what is agreed upon in the collective agreement or employment contract.
After parental leave ends, the employee has the right to return primarily to their previous job. If this is not possible, the employee must be offered work that is equivalent to their previous contractual work, and if this is also not feasible, other contractual work.
During pregnancy leave, special pregnancy leave or parental leave, temporary childcare leave, and absence due to compelling family reasons, annual leave accrues. The total time count for accruing annual leave during family leaves is a maximum of 160 working days or approximately 6 months. The collective agreement may specify a longer annual leave accrual period. Annual leave does not accrue during childcare leave unless otherwise agreed upon.
Notification to the employer about pregnancy and parental leave, as well as childcare leave, must be given at least 2 months before the intended start of the leave. However, if the duration of the leave is up to 12 working days, the notification period is 1 month. When notifying of leave for the care of an adopted child, if possible, the same notification period as mentioned above should be observed.
An employee may, for valid reasons, change the timing and duration of the leave by informing the employer at least one month before the change. However, the employee can bring forward pregnancy leave and change the timing of leave intended to be taken in connection with childbirth, which is the right to be taken at the same time as the other parent or spouse, if it is necessary due to the child’s birth or the health condition of the child or parent. In such cases, the employer should be notified of the change as soon as possible. An adopting parent may, for valid reasons, change the timing of leave before it begins by informing the employer as soon as possible.
With the employer’s consent, during the 14 weeks from the start of pregnancy leave, an employee may only perform work that does not jeopardize their safety, the safety of the fetus, or the safety of the born child. Both the employer and the employee have the right to suspend work at any time during this period. However, work may not be performed during the two weeks before the estimated due date or during the two weeks following delivery.
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Employees have the right to take pregnancy-, special pregnancy-, and parental leave as defined in the Health Insurance Act.
Pregnancy leave begins 30 working days before the estimated due date. The employer and the employee can agree to postpone pregnancy leave so that it starts no later than 14 working days before the estimated due date.
An employee has the right to take parental leave in up to four blocks, each lasting at least 12 working days.
You can start parental leave after the birth of the child. Kela pays parental allowance for 320 working days. If the child has two parents, the days are divided equally between each parent. If desired, you can transfer some of the parental allowance days to be taken by the other parent. You can receive parental allowance concurrently with another person caring for a different child for up to 18 working days.
You can also work part-time and apply for partial parental allowance for the same period.
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An employee has the right to take childcare leave to care for their child or another child who permanently resides in their household until the child reaches three years of age. However, an adopting parent’s right to childcare leave continues until two years have passed since the adoption or until the child starts school, whichever comes first.
Childcare leave can be taken in a maximum of two periods of at least one month each, unless the employer and employee agree on two or more periods or shorter durations. Only one of the parents or guardians can take childcare leave at a time. However, during pregnancy or parental leave, the other parent or guardian can take one period of childcare leave.
For partial childcare leave, a new employment contract is not required. Partial childcare leave is a statutory right that temporarily amends working hours through an agreed-upon arrangement. If an agreement cannot be reached on the arrangement of working hours and the timing of the leave, the length and timing of the leave will be determined based on the employee’s proposal. In such cases, partial childcare leave is granted by reducing the daily working hours to six hours.
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If a child under the age of 10 falls ill, the employee can, based on the Employment Contracts Act, take up to 4 working days of temporary care leave. During this time, there is no statutory right to receive pay or daily allowance from Kela.
More information
You will find more information on pregnancy and parental leaves on Kela’s webpages.