Current leave and other employment-related policies to support pa- pa-rents

Note. The regulations divide between Act on Sickness Insurance and Act on Employment Contracts. Ministry of Labour is responsible for leaves of ab-sence and Ministry of Social Af-fairs and Health is responsible for benefits.

The basic formula is that a person who is entitled to parental benefits is also entitled to a leave of absence from work for the respective periods.

a. Maternity Leave (responsibility of Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)

Length of leave (before and after birth)

• 105 working days (i.e. for all types of leave, one calendar week con-sists of 6 working days), between 30 and 50 days can be taken before the birth.

Payment (applied for the whole period of maternity leave)

• Earnings-related benefit, with payment averaging 66% of earnings;

nearly half of all mothers with an employment contract receive full pay, with employers making up the difference. Mothers not employed before the birth get a mini-mum flat-rate allowance of €15.20 a day.

Flexibility in use. None

Regional or local variations in leave policy. None

Eligibility (e.g. related to employment or family circumstances)

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• Entitlements based on residence, i.e. paid to all women who have li-ved in Finland at least 180 days immediately before the date on which their baby is due.

Variation in leave due to child or family reasons (e.g. multiple or prema-ture births; poor health or disability of child or mother; lone parent) or delegation of leave to person other than the mother

• In case of premature birth, if the pregnancy has lasted at least 154 days and ends earlier than 30 days before the due day, the mother is entitled to benefit and leave from the next day on for the following 105 days.

• Can be delegated to the father if the mother due to illness is unable to care for the child; or to other person responsible for the care of the child if the mother dies and the father does not care for the child.

b. Paternity Leave (responsibility of Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)

Length of leave (before and after birth)

• 18 working days, plus a further 12 ‘bonus’ days for fathers who take the last two weeks of parental leave

Payment (applied for the whole period of paternity leave)

• As for maternity leave.

Flexibility in use

• The 1-18 days can be taken in four segments, the 12 bonus days in one segment

Regional or local variations in leave policy

• None

Eligibility (e.g. related to employment or family circumstances)

• As for maternity leave, but the father must also live with the child’s mother.

Variation in leave due to child or family reasons (e.g. multiple or prema-ture births; poor health or disability of child or mother; lone parent) or delegation of leave to person other than the mother

• None

c. Parental Leave ((responsibility of Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)

Length of leave (before and after birth)

• 158 working days per family. Leave is a family entitlement.

Payment

• As for maternity leave Flexibility in use

• Each parent can take leave in two parts, of at least 12 days duration.

• Leave can be taken part time, at 40-60% of full-time hours, but only if both parents take part-time leave and only with the employer’s agreement. Benefit payments are reduced accordingly.

Regional or local variations in leave policy. None

Eligibility (e.g. related to employment or family circumstances)

• As for maternity leave

Variation in leave due to child or family reasons (e.g. multiple or prema-ture births; poor health or disability of child or mother; lone parent) or delegation of leave to person other than the mother

• In the case of multiple births, the length of leave increases by 60 days for each additional child. Either the father or the mother can use the increased leave, partly or wholly during the maternity leave or the pa-rental leave period.

• If due to premature birth the maternity leave has started earlier than 30 work-ing days before the due day, parental leave is extended with as many working days.

• If the mother dies and the father does not care for the child, the paren-tal bene-fit can be paid to an other person responsible for the care of the child

d. Childcare Leave or Career Breaks

• Childcare leave (referred to as ‘home care leave’) can be taken from the end of parental leave until a child’s 3rd birthday. This leave can be taken in two parts, the minimum length being one month. While ta-king leave, a parent receives a home care allowance consisting of a basic payment of €294 a month, with an additional €84 for every other child under 3 and €50 for every other child over 3 and a means-tested addition (up to €168 a month). The average home care allowance in 2003 was €342 a month. Some local authorities, especially in the Ca-pital area, pay a municipal supplement to the home care allowance; in 2003, these supplements averaged €206 a month.

e. Other employment-related measures Adoption leave and pay.

• Adoptive parents are eligible for parental leave of 234 working days after the birth of the child (or 180 working days if the child is older than 54 working days when the adoptive parents assume care for the child). Fathers are eligible for the same paternity leave as fathers ha-ving their own children.

If the child is stillborn or if the (adoptive) child dies. Maternity and pa-ternity benefit and leave continues until the end of the regular period.

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rental benefit and leave continues 12 days after the death, or until the end of the period if it ends earlier.

If the child is given to adoption. Maternity benefit and leave continues until the end of the regular period. If it takes place during paternity or pa-rental leave, the entitlements end the following day.

Time off for the care of dependants

• Between 2 and 4 days at a time for parents of children under 10 years when the child falls ill, the length being regulated by collective agreements. There are no limits on how often parents can take leave for this purpose during the course of a year. Payment is dependent on collective agreements, but often at full earnings.

Flexible working

• Parents can work reduced working hours – partial care leave - from the end of parental leave until the end of the child’s second year at school (i.e. around 8 years). The employee should negotiate the reduc-tion in hours with the em-ployer, and the employer can refuse only if the reduced working hours would lead to serious disadvantages for the organisation – in that case, working hours must be 30 hours a week.

Both parents can take partial care leave during the same period, but cannot take leave during the same time in the day. Employ-ees taking partial care leave receive a partial home care allowance of €70 a month.

2. Relationship between leave and other employment-related policies and serv-ices for young children (e.g. if parents have a choice of leave or a guaranteed childcare place; explicit connection between ending of leave period and the start of a guaranteed childcare place)

There is a universal entitlement to a place in a publicly-funded early childhood service for all children from birth, though slightly less than half of all children un-der school age (i.e. under 7 years) take up this en-titlement.

The entitlement also includes the possibility of a state subsidy for parents choos-ing to use private services (€137 a month plus a means-tested addi-tion and an ad-diaddi-tional municipal supplement paid by some local authori-ties). The average pay-ment was €428 per child per month in 2003.

3. Changes in leave policy and other related developments since