Partial Child-Care Leave

Partial child-care leave means that an employee's daily and/or weekly working hours are reduced, usually to six hours a day and 30 hours a week, due to taking care for the employee’s child or a child living permanently in employee’s household.

An employee is entitled to take partial child-care leave until the end of the child’s second school year (31st of July) or the end of the third school year of a child in extended compulsory education. A parent of a child with a disability or a long-term illness who needs particular care and support can take partial child-care leave until the child turns 18.

To be entitled to this leave, the employee must have been employed for at least 6 months in the past 12 months and both parents must be working, or the employee must be a single parent.

Both parents or guardians have a right to partial child-care leave but not at the same time. However, parents may stay at partial child-care leave during the same period but not simultaneously. That is possible, if, for example, the other reduces their working hours from the mornings and the other from the evenings.

The employer may refuse to agree on or grant such leave only if the leave causes serious inconvenience to production or service operations that cannot be avoided through reasonable rearrangements of work. The employer must provide the employee with an explanation of the reasons for its refusal.

The employer and the employee shall agree on partial child-care leave and the detailed arrangements concerning it as they see fit. For example, they can agree on whether to reduce the daily working hours or the number of working days in the working week. If they do not reach agreement on the detailed arrangements, the employee shall be granted one period of partial child-care leave in a calendar year. The duration and timing of the leave shall be according to the employee's proposal. In such cases, the partial child-care leave shall be granted by reducing the regular working hours to 6 hours per day. The reduced working time must be of one period, excluding rest periods. If the working time is arranged as an average, it must be reduced to an average of 30 hours per week.

Any changes in partial child-care leave shall be agreed on. If it is not possible to reach an agreement, the employee has the right to interrupt partial child-care leave for a justified reason, observing a notice period of at least one month.