Notifying your parental leave
You must notify your employer of your parental leave at least 2 months beforehand or, if this is not possible, as soon as possible. If you work in a local or regional authority, you must give 3 months' notice.
When notifying your employer, you should also indicate how long you plan to be on leave.
Timing of parental leave
Different rules apply to the timing of full and partial leave.
In the case of full leave, you are entitled to take the days requested. However, as long as it does not cause difficulties in your family situation, you must schedule your leave in such a way that it does not put a major strain on your business.
In the case of partial leave, you and your employer must consult on how the leave will be taken. You have the right to take leave according to your wishes, provided that they do not cause undue hardship to the business. In the unlikely event that your wishes cause significant disruption to the business, the employer has the right to decide how the partial leave is taken. However, the employer may not, without your consent, schedule the leave on a specific day or split the leave during the day. Unless you agree otherwise, leave must be spread over the whole working week and may only be taken at the beginning or end of the working day.
Three periods of leave per year
You are entitled to a total of three periods of parental leave per year. According to the law, a period is a period of leave that is constant in its scope and length. If you change the scope, it counts as a new period. The same applies if the original leave is extended.
When applying for a period of leave, it is therefore important to be clear about the length of the period, the type of parental leave you want to take and its scope. However, the employer may allow more periods. Should this be the case, we recommend that you make this agreement in writing.
Leave with or without parental leave allowance
Some forms of leave require you to take parental benefit at the same time, while other forms of leave do not impose such requirements.
During the leave, Försäkringskassan pays parental benefit. Both parents receive a total of 480 days of parental benefit. 90 days are dedicated to each parent, the remaining days can be distributed as you wish.
Please note that you must always take parental benefit after the child turns one year old to protect your SGI.
Supplementary parental pay
Most collective agreements offer parental pay that supplements parental benefit from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
Contact your local trade union representative or human resources department to find out what applies in your country. You can find current collective agreements here.
If your employer does not have a collective agreement, they will probably not pay any extra compensation. However, your employer may be interested in retaining skilled staff and may want to negotiate a top-up.
Guide to parental leave
With supplementary parental pay, parents often benefit from sharing parental leave equally. Saco has produced a guide to see how much you have left to live on, depending on how you share your leave. Go to Saco's guide to parental leave.
External link.
Contact Naturvetarna's member advisory service if you have questions about parental leave. If you have a low income during your parental leave, you can apply to Naturvetarna for a reduced membership fee.