Parental leave
Parental leave is a right to 32 weeks’ leave in connection with having a child. Parental leave is normally taken from the 14th week after the child is born.
The 32 week’s parental leave is a joint right which means that both parents have equal right and opportunity to split the leave between them. This means that the part of the leave which one parent uses is deducted from the joint “leave pool”.
HR has prepared a graphic overview specifying rights and options in connection with parental leave. You will find this overview on HR’s website on maternity/paternity/parental leave where you will also find the forms you must use for notifying your manager of your leave.
Please note!
All information in the Staff Handbook in relation to maternity/paternity leave is based on ‘Statens Barselsaftale’ (the State Maternity Agreement). If your partner is not an employee of the Faculty of Life Sciences, other rules may apply to him or her.
Duration of leave
Under the Danish Gender Equality (Consolidation) Act (Ligebehandlingsloven), both parents are entitled to 32 weeks’ absence (which may be extended to either 40 or 46 weeks).
Notification of parental leave
You must notify your department that you wish to go on parental leave eight weeks after the birth of the child at the latest.
You do this by filling in a special form where you state how you would like to take your parental leave.
The form can be downloaded from HR’s website under maternity/paternity/parental leave.
In the form, you state how you want to take your leave and then submit it to the department secretary.
Pay
The parents have a joint right for benefits to 32 weeks (possibly extended over 40 or 46 weeks). As a state employee, you are entitled to full pay for 12 of the 32 weeks. If both you and your partner work for the state, you have a joint right to 18 weeks’ leave with pay, with six weeks for you, six weeks for your partner and six weeks which you can split between you as you see fit.
You can take the leave together, in continuation of each other or by turns, but your combined parental leave cannot exceed 18 weeks.
During the remaining weeks of your parental leave, you will receive benefits from your municipality of residence. However, you can only receive benefits if you are eligible to receive benefits from your municipality.
Holiday and pension earned
You will earn holiday for your entire leave period.
You earn full pension during your entire leave period (pregnancy, maternity/paternity leave and parental leave with or without pay).
However, you only earn pension during the first 32 weeks of your parental leave if you choose to extend your parental leave to 40 or 46 weeks.
For more information about holiday earned, taken and transferred in connection with maternity/paternity leave, look under the keyword “holiday” in this Staff Handbook.
Preparing an agreement
On the basis of the requests you have submitted concerning your parental leave, your department will consider whether they can be accommodated.
If the department accepts your requests, the form will be forwarded to HR.
Once the notification deadline has expired, HR will prepare a maternity/paternity agreement on the basis of the requests made by you and your department.
You must sign a copy of the agreement and return it to HR. Amendments can only be made to the maternity/paternity agreement if special circumstances arise that render it unfair to enforce the agreement and if both you and your department wish to amend the agreement – and only subject to confirmation by HR.
Leave in general
HR has prepared a schedule which in schematic form shows the various ways you can take your leave.
You will find the schedule at HR’s website on maternity/paternity/parental.
You can take the leave concurrently with, before or after or in continuation of your partner’s leave.
Parental leave is normally taken after the 14th week, but as the father you can take your parental leave earlier together with the mother when she takes her 14 weeks’ maternity leave.
Extending the parental leave
You are entitled to extend the 32 weeks’ parental leave to either 40 or 46 weeks. As your parental leave is ‘linked’ to that of your partner, it means that if you extend your right of leave, your partner’s right of leave is extended correspondingly.
When you extend your right of leave, your benefits will be reduced correspondingly so that over your entire leave you are paid benefits corresponding to full benefits for 32 weeks.
Postponing the leave
The maternity/paternity agreement includes both a postponement right (legal postponement) and a postponement option (agreement-based postponement). The different rules applying to the two areas of postponement are reviewed below. However, it is important to stress that an agreement-based postponement, as the name implies, can only be effected subject to an agreement, i.e. the department is entitled to say no if the leave is not compatible with the performance of your tasks in the department.
It is therefore important that you observe the notification rules, so that you and your department can reach a maternity/paternity agreement as quickly as possible.
Legal postponement
One of the parents is entitled to postponing a minimum of eight weeks and a maximum of 13 weeks of their parental leave for later.
The postponed leave must be taken as a continuous period.
Notification: The Faculty must have received your request for legal leave eight weeks after the birth of your child. You must notify your department of your wish to take postponed leave 16 weeks before the start of the leave period.
Job change: You retain your right to take your postponed leave if you obtain employment elsewhere.
Lapse: You must have taken your leave before your child’s 9th birthday as your right will otherwise lapse.
Legal leave which has not yet been started may subject to agreement with the employer be changed to an agreement-based postponed leave.
Agreement-based postponement
Both parents have the option of agreeing to postpone the entire or part of the 32-week parental leave – or possibly taking the leave periodically.
The postponed duration of leave is not subject to minimum or maximum requirements, but it is still a requirement that the leave be taken before the child’s 9th birthday.
Notification: Agreement-based postponement will normally be agreed in connection with the ordinary planning of the parental leave, i.e. no later than eight weeks after the birth of the child. However, agreement-based postponement can also be agreed to at a later time. The leave period or an agreement on the deadline for notification of the leave should be agreed on in connection with the preparation of the maternity/paternity agreement.
Job change: You can take untaken agreement-based leave with you to a new employer subject to agreement with your new employer. If your new employer does not agree to take on your leave, your right of leave will be ‘pending’ and can be ‘revived’ in connection with a later job change.
Lapse: You must have taken your leave before your child’s 9th birthday, as your right will otherwise lapse.
Partial resumption of work during leave
You have the option of partially resuming work during your leave period. The option of partially resuming work is not a right. It must be agreed with your department, and permission to partial leave/partial resumption of work requires that your department is able to plan the work tasks appropriately during the period.
The work can be resumed either so that the benefit period is extended or so that the right to benefits lapse for the hours during which work is resumed.
Under the first condition, you can only resume work if your leave has not been extended to 40 or 46 weeks. Resuming work under the second condition will be relevant if you have extended your leave or if you are taking a legal, postponed leave.
More information:
For more information about the different types of leave, see the Staff Handbook under the relevant keyword. Furthermore, HR offers a dedicated maternity/paternity page where you can find all relevant information and necessary forms.
If you still have questions after having read the relevant sections of the Staff Handbook, you can read more in the Danish State Employer’s Authority’s ‘Barselsvejledning’ (PDF – maternity/paternity guidelines – in Danish) which provides a detailed explanation of rules and options.
Henriette Strand Nielsen, - last update:18 January 2010