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Parental leave employee

Here you can read about what applies to parental leave for employees and what responsibility you have as an employer.

Leave in connection with pregnancy and childbirth

An employee who is pregnant has the right to be on full leave in connection with the birth of his/her child. The employee has the right to be on leave for a consecutive period of at least seven weeks before the estimated due date and seven weeks after the birth.

Parental leave

Employees who have children under 8 years of age have the right to take time off from work, with or without parental benefit from Försäkringskassan. The employee has the right to:

  • go on consecutive leave
  • reduce their working hours by up to a quarter of normal working hours
  • divide their leave into a maximum of three periods each calendar year.

If you and your employee agree, he/she can divide the leave up over additional periods.

When the child is under 18 months of age

An employee with children under 18 months of age has the right to be full leave from work, without the requirement to take out parental benefit from Försäkringskassan.

An employee who has adopted a child has the right to be on full leave from work for one and a half years from the time he/she took the child into their custody.

When the child is over 18 months of age

Leave with parental benefit

An employee has the right to take time off to the extent that he/she takes out parental benefit. Parental benefit can be paid out as full (100 percent), three-quarters (75 percent), one-half (50 percent), one-quarter (25 percent) or one-eighth compensation (12.5 percent).

Part-time leave without parental benefit

An employee who does not take out parental benefit has the right to reduce his/her normal working hours by up to a quarter in order to take care of his or her child. This applies if the child has not reached the age of 8 or if it is older but has not yet finished his/her first year of school.

In addition, you as an employer may have collective agreements that entitle employees to reduced working hours until the child turns 12.

Who does what?

The employee must notify the employer no later than two months before the leave that he/she intends to be on leave and for how long. In some workplaces there are collective agreements that allow the employee to notify the employer earlier or later.

The employee must:

  • Notify you that they intend to go on leave and for how long.
  • Report parental benefit to Försäkringskassan.

The employer must:

  • Submit a reply to the income inquiry if Försäkringskassan asks for it.

 

Parental insurance was established so that all parents will be able to combine work with parenthood. As an employer, you have a responsibility to encourage a more equal withdrawal of parental benefit. But there is also much to gain from it.

And employers' attitudes play an important role when parents are faced with decisions about how to share parental leave. Norms that exist in society regarding how men and women are expected to behave can also be found among employers.

What can you as an employer gain from a more equal withdrawal?

Keep and attract new employees

If you as an employer make it easier for your employees to share the responsibility for children, you become a more attractive employer. The right skills in the company provides a competitive advantage and is a prerequisite for the success of the business.

As an employer, you also need to comply with the Discrimination Act and ensure that the employment conditions in your operations are equal for men and women according to the law.

Reduced risk of sick leave

There is a link between the distribution of parental benefit usage and the distribution of domestic work. For example, fathers take a larger share of responsibility for, and perform a greater proportion of, domestic work in families who have shared parental benefit more equally. Studies have shown that the risk of sick leave can increase for women who have a primary responsibility for home and family while working to a large extent.

In families where parents have an equal use of parental benefit, vab usage is also more equal.

What can the employee gain from a more equal usage of parental benefit?

  • In families who take out an equal portion of parental benefit and the father is involved in their children's lives at an early stage, he and the children have better contact later in life.
  • An increase in the use of parental benefit by fathers contributes to an increase in the mother’s income, in particular among women with low incomes.

An increase or decrease in the use of parental benefit by mothers does not affect the man’s future income.

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