The right to family leave is in the law

The right to family leave is based on the Employment Contracts Act (Työsopimuslaki). The collective agreement says how much wages or salary the employer will pay during family leave. Other benefits paid during family leave are set out in the law (the Health Insurance Act, Sairausvakuutuslaki).

This page gives you information about the different types of family leave and the pay and benefits that you can get during the family leave. The new law about family leave came into force on 1 August 2022. The new law applies to all families that have a child whose expected date of birth is 4 September 2022 or later. If the child’s expected date of birth was earlier than 4 September 2022, the old family leave law is applied. Below you can find information about the new family leave law.

For information about the old family leave rights, click here (in Finnish): SAK:n Perhevapaaopas luottamushenkilöille 2019 (pdf).

Contents

• What does family leave mean?
• What pay or benefits can I get during family leave?
• How is pay during family leave determined?
• When do I need to tell my employer that I am pregnant?
• What is the membership fee during family leave?
• Can the employer dismiss me during family leave?
• Do I get holiday days or pension based on the time I was on family leave?

What does family leave mean?

The Employment Contract Act lists many types of family leave: pregnancy leave (raskausvapaa), special pregnancy leave (erityisraskausvapaa), parental leave (vanhempainvapaa), partial parental leave (osittainen vanhempainvapaa), child care leave (hoitovapaa), partial child care leave (osittainen hoitovapaa), temporary child care leave (tilapäinen hoitovapaa), and other absence for compelling family reasons (muu pakottava poissaolo perhesyiden takia).

Pregnancy leave (raskausvapaa): The mother can begin pregnancy leave 30 weekdays before the child’s expected date of birth, and must begin it at least 14 weekdays before the expected date of birth. The mother gets 40 weekdays of pregnancy leave, no matter which day the child is born. The mother is allowed to work during pregnancy leave if the employer allows it, but the work must not cause harm to the mother or the unborn child. The mother must be on leave at least two weeks before the child’s expected date of birth and two weeks after it.

Special pregnancy leave (erityisraskausvapaa): This leave is for mothers whose work could risk the mother’s or the unborn child’s health, and the employer can not give the mother other work. The risk to health could be because of chemical substances, radiation or diseases, for example. The special pregnancy leave benefit will end when the pregnancy leave and its benefit begins. The benefit is paid by Kela.

Parental leave (vanhempainvapaa): This means leave that begins right after pregnancy leave. The parents can have a maximum of 320 days of parental leave. You can take parental leave to care for your own biological child or an adopted child. Parental leave is divided between the parents. This means that both parents can take a maximum of 160 weekdays (about 6.5 months) of parental leave. Of the 160 days that belong to you, you can give up to 63 weekdays to the other parent. If you are a single parent, you can take all the 320 days of leave yourself. You have to use all your parental leave within two years of the day when the child was born. If the child is adopted, you have to use the parental leave within two years of the day when the child came into your care. 

Partial parental leave (osittainen vanhempainvapaa): This means that you work part-time and spend part of your time looking after your child. You will have to make an agreement with your employer about working part-time. 

Child care leave (hoitovapaa): People often take child care leave after the parental leave. You can take child care leave until the child turns 3 years old. Parents of an adopted child also have the right to take child care leave during the first two years after the adoption, or until the child goes to school.

Partial child care leave (osittainen hoitovapaa): This means that after your parental leave, you work part-time and spend part of your time looking after your child. You can take partial child care leave until the child has gone to school for two years. The right to partial child care leave ends at the end of July in that year.

Temporary child care leave (tilapäinen hoitovapaa): If your child is under 10 years old and gets sick, you can stay at home to take care of the child. A parent has the right to take temporary child care leave to care for a child who has suddenly become ill, or to find someone else to take care of the child. The Employment Contract Act says that the temporary child care leave can be a maximum of four days long, and the employer does not have to pay the worker any wage during that time. The collective agreement for your sector may have different rules about getting paid. Make sure that you know what your sector’s collective agreement says.

Other absence for compelling family-related reasons (muu pakottava poissaolo perhesyistä): This means situations in which the worker needs to stay with his or her family because there has been a sudden event such as serious illness or an accident. There is no time limit, but you should try to get back to work as soon as possible. This is temporary leave.

Other compelling absence (muu pakottava poissaolo): You may get temporary leave for an agreed period to care for a family member or another close relative. This is not a rule; you must always agree with the employer (your supervisor) about how long you can be away from work, and about any other related things.

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What pay or benefits can I get during family leave?

During family leave, the parent may be paid by the employer (the company) or get a benefit from Kela. These depend on how long you have worked for the company, and what your collective agreement says. Sometimes the company may even have other, better rules than these.

Here is some information about the benefits that Kela pays during different types of family leave. The information that is given here is general. You can read more on Kela’s website for families. The website also has calculators that you can use to find out if you have a right to a benefit, how much your benefit might be, and when it could be paid. There are calculators in Finnish and in Swedish.

Kela’s benefits for family leaves are these: pregnancy allowance (raskausraha), parental allowance (vanhempainraha), and partial parental allowance (osittainen vanhempainraha). After the parental allowance, you can get a child home care allowance (lastenhoidon tuki) if you take care of your child full time. If your income is small, some towns also pay an additional home care allowance (kuntalisä).

The amount of daily allowance (päiväraha) that Kela pays may depend on how high your pay has been. There is a minimum level. Some allowances are the same for everyone.

If the parent has no job, he or she may still get an allowance from Kela for taking care of the child. You can’t look for a job when you are taking care of the child. Your unemployment benefit will then stop, and you will get a pregnancy allowance or parental allowance. After these, you can get child home care allowance.

Pregnancy allowance (raskausraha): You can get pregnancy allowance for 40 weekdays. Depending on the type of job and the collective agreement, you will get the allowance from your employer (the company) or from Kela.

Parental allowance (vanhempainraha): After pregnancy, parental allowance is paid for the maximum total of 320 weekdays. The child may be born to you or adopted. If you have more than one child – for example twins – the parental allowance period is 84 weekdays longer for each additional child. A single parent can use all parental allowance days alone. When there are two parents, each will get half of the parental leave, and parental allowance for 160 weekdays. One parent can give a maximum of 63 days of these to the other parent. The parental allowance payments can also be divided flexibly so that they are good for your family. The allowance can be paid for example for single days, for half days or for part of the week. You must use all your parental allowance within two years of the day when the child was born. If the child is adopted, you must use the parental leave within two years of the day when the child came into your care.

Partial parental allowance (osittainen vanhempainraha) If you want to work part-time and take care of the child part-time, you can get partial parental allowance. The unused part of the parental allowance can then be used later, but it must be used before the child turns two years old. If the child is adopted, the parent may get partial parental allowance until two years have passed after the child has come into the parent’s care. There are some rules about the part-time work that you do when you get partial parental allowance. You can ask Kela for more information about these rules. 

You can get child care benefits after the parental allowance period ends. The child care benefits are these: flexible care allowance (joustava hoitoraha), child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki), private day care allowance (yksityisen hoidon tuki), and partial care allowance (osittainen hoitoraha). Your right to these allowances depends on your work and how (or where) child care is done.

If you look after the child at home, you may get child home care allowance. If someone looks after the child somewhere else, you may get private day care allowance. You can get child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki) if the child is not in municipal day care, and a minimum of 160 weekdays have passed after the child was born. Your family can not get both child home care allowance and parental allowance at the same time for the same child. You can get child home care allowance until the child turns 3 years old. The person taking care of the child can be a parent, another close relative, or a hired child care worker. Adoptive parents may also have the right to get child home care allowance for a child who is more than 3 years old. When the child is adopted, you can get allowance for two years starting from the day when the child is placed into your care.

Private day care allowance (yksityisen hoidon tuki): Your family can get private day care allowance if the child is in a private day care centre, or a private nanny takes care of the child. You can get this allowance until the child goes to school.

Flexible care allowance (joustava hoitoraha): A parent may get flexible care allowance when he or she goes back to work part-time after the parental leave. You can get flexible care allowance until the child turns 3 years old. Both parents can get flexible care allowance for the same period if they take care of the child at different times. You may also get this benefit even if you don’t live in the same household with your child. Other benefits, such as the child home care allowance, may have an impact on flexible care allowance. The flexible care allowance can be given to any type of family.

Partial care allowance (osittainen hoitoraha): You may get partial care allowance if you work part-time as defined in the law to look after a child who goes to school and is on the first or second grade. Both parents can get partial care allowance for the same period if they take care of the child at different times. The allowance can be paid to any type of family.

Special care allowance (erityishoitoraha): You can get special care allowance if you can not work because you have to take care of, or help in the therapy of, a seriously ill or disabled child under 16 years old. If you get other benefits or pay while the child is ill, you may not get this allowance.

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How is pay determined during family leave?

Pay during family leave has been agreed in many collective agreements and varies between industries.

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When do I need to tell my employer that I am pregnant?

There is no law about when you have to tell your employer that you are pregnant. However, the Employment Contract Act (pdf) says that the worker must tell the employer about a maternity, paternity or parental leave or child care leave at least two months before the planned leave begins. If the leave will be 12 days or less, the worker must tell about it one month before the leave begins.

It is good if you can tell about the pregnancy as early as possible. When you have told your employer (the company or your supervisor) that you are pregnant, you will be protected from being dismissed. You will also get extra protection from some safety risks.

Read more in this article: What impact does pregnancy have on your employment relationship?

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What is the membership fee during family leave?

You must always tell PAM about a family leave. You will still be a member, but may not need to pay the membership fee.

If you are paid normal wages during your family leave, you will also pay the normal membership fee. When you get benefits from Kela for the family leave, you will not need to pay the membership fee.

Read more: Update your member information – changes in your life may mean changes in your membership fee.

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Can the employer dismiss me during family leave?

According to the Employment Contract Act, you can not be dismissed because you are pregnant or taking family leave. When you are on family leave, you can only be dismissed if the company closes all operations.

Read more:

• What impact does pregnancy have on your employment relationship?
• Terminating employment contract

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Do I get holiday days or pension based on the time I was on family leave?

The Annual Holidays Act says that the worker will also get annual holiday based on the time he or she has been on family leave. A maximum of six months (156 days) of special pregnancy leave, pregnancy leave, parental leave, and other absence for compelling family-related reasons will be used as basis for annual holiday. However, you will not get annual holiday based on the time you were on child care leave.

The Employees Pensions Act says that workers will get pension based on the time they were on unpaid family leave. During the family leave, pension is calculated based on 121 % of the wages that have been used as the basis for the family leave allowance. If you got the minimum parental allowance, your pension for that period will be based on the minimum income limit, which is EUR 757.14 / month (in 2020). This minimum income limit will also be used as the basis for pension during the child care leave (caring for a child less than 3 years old at home).

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Read more:

• What impact does pregnancy have on your employment relationship?
• Update your member information – changes in your life may mean changes in your membership fee
• SAK Guide to family leave for shop stewards (pdf in Finnish)
• Employment Contract Act (pdf)