When you want to stay home with your child but it is not the child's first day of sick leave.
Last time you heard from the Intempus blog, it was about your right to time off work when your child is sick. However, we didn't quite get there, because while last time we mainly focused on what most people call ”the child's first sick day”, this time it's about two other things: care days and the right to per diem when caring for seriously ill children.
It's not exactly revolutionary knowledge, but children are not able to look after themselves when they are ill. In the case of a so-called acute illness, you can read about all your rights to care for your child here. But what other options do you have to take time off work and spend time with your child - even with pay, unlike on the first day of illness?
In short, you have two: Carers' days and entitlement to unemployment benefit for a seriously ill child. Let's start with the former.
Care days
If you are either a public employee or have a collective labour agreement, there is a good chance that you have two paid days off per year at your disposal that you can easily use to spend with your child. These are so-called care days, which you have two of per year from the year of birth until the year your child turns seven. Per child, that is.
As mentioned, not everyone is entitled to care days - however, all public sector employees are. If you are employed privately, it must be stated in your employment contract, collective agreement or similar, but it is not a guaranteed right.
Apart from that, there are virtually no additional circumstances that need to be present for you to take your care days. They are there so that you can spend time with your child. There are no rules on when you have to give your employer notice, and they should honour your request as far as possible, unless the tasks you have to perform make it impossible. Note that care days can also be organised as half days or even hours if you can agree with your employer. If you are employed part-time, you are also entitled to care days. In this case, one day corresponds to the time you should have been at work that day.
What if you don't get to take your care days in that year - can they be carried over to the next year or perhaps paid out? The answer is generally no to both, but in the first case there are two exceptions; in the year the child is born, you can transfer the care days. This is practical if, for example, you give birth at the end of the year. And if you are prevented from using the care days for a year due to e.g. maternity, adoption or childcare leave, you can also transfer them. But not otherwise, and they cannot be paid out under any circumstances.
Daily allowance when caring for a seriously ill child
As mentioned last time, we clarified the options you have for taking time off if your child suffers an acute illness - popularly known as the child's first day of illness. This means that when the illness is no longer acute - typically from the second day of illness - you no longer have the right to take time off. But what if your child is sick for a longer period of time and you as a parent want to be close to them?
In some cases, you may be able to receive unemployment benefits or even full pay, while your employer is compensated for part of your salary. Before we get to that point, however, there are a number of prerequisites that must be met:
- The child must be under 18 years old
- A doctor must assess that the course of the disease lasts a minimum of 12 days in total
- You must fulfil the employment requirement that entitles you to parental benefit (you can read more about this here under ”Can I get parental benefit?”
You can receive unemployment benefits if you stop working completely during the period, but also if you only work reduced hours. And the illness may require hospitalisation or similar treatment institution as well as being treatable at home. Please also note that if you are a single parent, you are entitled to unemployment benefits even if your child is sick for less than 12 days.
But first and foremost, it's important to emphasise that the right to receive daily allowance for a seriously ill child is not a legal right for everyone - only those who are employed under a collective agreement. If you are not, you should instead try to reach an agreement with your employer, who in turn has the right to deduct your salary - if you are guaranteed full pay during leave in your collective agreement, the employer can have part of your salary reimbursed from the state treasury.
You can receive a maximum of DKK 4,300 (2018 figures) per week for a maximum of 52 weeks in an 18-month period - provided your child is sick during that period, which, as mentioned, is assessed by a doctor. Please note that you can also receive compensation for loss of earnings if your child has a chronic illness or disability and it is necessary to care for your child at home. This is not to be confused with daily allowance for a seriously ill child, but you can read more about it here.
Keep track of care days and all other absences
With a digital time tracking system like Intempus, it is easy for both the employee and the employer or administrator to manage all types of absence: holidays, time off in lieu, maternity leave and, of course, care days and periods of absence related to a sick child. The employee simply registers the hours as ‘care days’ or ‘child's first sick day’ directly in 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.
Are you curious about how Intempus can ease your workday and make absence tracking easy, safe and accurate for you and your organisation? Book a free, no-obligation demo here:
You are also welcome to give us a call at: +45 26390400
If you want to know more about how to apply for unemployment benefits, what information you need to provide and much more, you can learn more at borger.dk.
