What rights do you have as a parent in the labor market? And which rules and laws should you be aware of? Balancing work and family life can be challenging, but if you know your rights and the laws you are subject to, it can be easier to navigate. Here we outline the most central points you should know as a parent in the labor market.
1. The Maternity Act
As a new parent, maternity is one of the first things you have to deal with. It is important to understand your rights and options in relation to maternity leave. Therefore, make sure to investigate how long you and your partner are entitled to maternity leave and how you can divide it between you.
All parents are covered by the new Maternity Act, which entered into force in August 2022. With the new model, the weeks are distributed differently and more equally between the mother and the father/co-mother.
At the same time, part of the maternity leave was earmarked for both parents. The new rules maintain 52 weeks of maternity leave overall. These are distributed as follows:
- 4 weeks maternity leave for the mother before the due date (4 weeks)
- 2 weeks earmarked leave for each parent in connection with the birth (4 weeks)
- 13 weeks of leave for each parent, which can be transferred (26 weeks)
- 9 weeks’ leave for each parent earmarked as an employee (18 weeks)
If you are covered by a collective agreement, you can find information here regarding the extent of the employer-paid maternity leave. If you are not covered by a collective agreement, you can refer to any local agreements, the staff handbook or your employment contract to learn more about your rights. In some companies, there will also be an opportunity to negotiate for more employer-paid maternity leave. You can read more about the new rules for maternity leave here.
2. Care days
When children get sick or need extra care, care days can be crucial. It is therefore a good idea to be familiar with the rules regarding paid days off with your child that apply in your particular workplace.
As a general rule, you are entitled to 2 paid days off with your child each year if you are employed in the public sector and are the parent of a child aged 0-7. It is also a requirement that the child stays with you. You are entitled to care days regardless of whether you are employed full-time, part-time or work as, for example, a student assistant. One care day counts as the actual number of hours you should have been at work on that day. In addition, the care days must be held no later than 31 December in the calendar year, and as a rule cannot be transferred to the next calendar year. If you are privately employed, it is clear from your collective agreement, your employment contract or similar whether you are entitled to care days. You can read more about the right to care days here.
3. The child’s first sick day
You must be able to put your child first when he/she gets sick, and it must not be something that negatively affects the relationship between employer and employee. That is why there is an “Act on the right of employees to be absent from work for special family reasons”, which guarantees all employees the right to time off in case of “acute illness”. More precisely, the nature of the illness is not described, other than that it must be “absolutely necessary, force majeure” to stay at home, but it is the right that is popularly called ‘the child’s first sick day’.
1st sick day is – as the name indicates – the first day the child is ill. This means that if your child falls ill on a Sunday when you are not at work anyway, you cannot take the child’s 1st sick day on Monday. And in the same way with the 2nd sick day, which is the calendar day that follows the 1st sick day, regardless of whether it is a working day or a holiday. You should also be aware that only one of the parents can take the child’s first sick day. For example, the child’s father cannot take time off on the child’s 1st sick day on Monday, after which the child’s mother takes the child’s 1st sick day on Tuesday. The same applies to the 2nd sick day. If your child falls ill again after a short time, a new period of illness starts with a new first sick day.
There are basically no restrictions on how many sick days you can take for the child. But the various collective agreements and local agreements will often contain guidelines for this. In addition, when you become aware that the child is ill, you should try as far as possible to find a care solution for the following days, so that it takes as little time as possible in addition to work.
It is individual from collective agreement to collective agreement, what rights it gives you in connection with the child’s first sick day. But it typically gives you the right to pay – and sometimes even the right to more days with pay. It may also be described in your employment contract or other local regulations at your workplace.
Although the rules surrounding the child’s first sick day are not the same for everyone, the typical prerequisites for being able to keep such a day will be to:
- The child must be under 18 years of age
- The child is staying with you
- It is necessary to stay at home for the sake of the child
- It is practically possible to stay home from work.
- You can read more about the child’s first sick day here.
4. Leave or daily allowance for a seriously ill child
What if the child is seriously ill for a long period of time and you as a parent want to be close to him?
In some cases, it is possible to receive daily allowance or full salary during the period you are not at work due to your sick child. But first of all, it is important to emphasize that the right to receive daily allowance for a seriously ill child is not a legally guaranteed right for everyone. It only applies to those employed under a collective agreement. If you are not, you must instead try to make an agreement with your employer. Here, however, your employer will have the right to deduct your salary. If, on the other hand, you are guaranteed full salary during leave in your collective agreement, the employer can get a part of your salary reimbursed from the state treasury.
If a parent has the right to take time off to care for a seriously ill child, the following conditions must be met in order to receive unemployment benefit:
- the child is under 18 years of age
- the doctor treating the child assesses that the overall course of the illness lasts at least 12 days– the course of the illness can include admission to a hospital or similar treatment institution as well as treatment or care at home, which can be equated with a hospital stay
- the parent stops working or takes reduced time in connection with the child’s illness the parent meets the employment requirement that gives the right to maternity allowance
In addition, please note that if you are a single parent, you are entitled to daily allowance, even if your child is ill for less than 12 days.
Also be aware that you can receive compensation for lost earnings if your child has a chronic illness or a disability and it is necessary to look after your child at home. You can read more about the rules regarding sick days and apply for compensation for lost earnings as a result of a seriously ill child, here.
Intempus keeps track of the rules
With a digital time registration system like Intempus, it becomes easy for both the employee and the employer or the administrator to handle all types of absence: including maternity, care days, the child’s first sick day and longer periods of absence in connection with a seriously ill child. The employee simply registers the hours such as ‘care days’ or ‘the child’s first sick day’ directly on the app, after which the administrator can easily approve and get an overview of the reported (absence) hours in Intempus Web. In this way, the employees’ hours and absence balances are always under control.
If you are interested in hearing more about how a solution from us can lift your work processes, feel free to call us on +45 26 390 400, or book a non-binding demo:
