Parental leave and parental allowance
After the period of maternity leave, either one of the parents may take parental leave. The
duration of parental leave is 133 workdays (slightly more than 26 weeks, 158 days including
Saturdays) and will be extended by 50 workdays (60 days including Saturdays) per child
in case of multiple births. Similar to maternity and paternity allowance, parental allowance
is also determined on the basis of income earned. On average, parental allowance accounts
for 60% of an employee’s pay, being at least FIM 1 600 (€ 269) per month.
To date, fathers have only exercised their right to parental leave to a modest extent. In 1997,
less than 2% of fathers took parental leave.
After the parental leave period, families have three different alternatives supported by public
funding to provide for their child’s care:
1. caring for the child at home on child-care leave and receiving child
home care allowance up to the age of three;
2. having the child cared for at a private day-care place with private childcare
allowance until the child goes to school; or
3. having the child cared for in municipal day care until the child goes to school.