1. Ministry of Employment Sweden Parental leave in Sweden Hanna Björknäs Division of labour law and work environment Ministry of Employment

2. Ministry of Employment Sweden Leave during pregnancy A mother who has a job which can be hazardous for her or the unborn child is entitled to be transferred to other work or, if this is not possible, to leave from work. The same applies if the work is to heavy for a pregnant women. A pregnancy benefit can be claimed in some cases.

3. Ministry of Employment Sweden Maternity leave There are provisions on maternity leave in Sweden, due to the EU directive on maternity leave. A mother can use maternity leave 7 weeks before and 7 weeks after child birth. The allowance is paid under the system of parental cash benefit and can be used 60 days before birth. A mother also has the right to leave for breastfeeding her baby. There are no restrictions for this leave.

4. Ministry of Employment Sweden Paternity leave or daddy’s days A father or the other parent can recieve 10 days of leave when the child is born. A temporary parental benefit can be claimed during this leave. If more than one child is born the father or the other parent can recieve 10 additional days per child.

5. Ministry of Employment Sweden Parental benefit during parental leave An employee on parental leave can apply for a parental benefit. Parental cash benefit is granted for 16 months, 13 months 80 %, 3 months flat rate. Additional pay is sometimes provided for in collective agreements. The days are equally distributed among the parents, but all but 60 days can be transferred to the other parent. A single parent is entitled to all days. Additional days can be claimed if more than one child is born.

6. Ministry of Employment Sweden Not only employees have the right to parental benefits. Also self employed women and men and unemployed can claim parental benefit when taking care of their children.

7. Ministry of Employment Sweden Who can apply for parental leave? All employees who are parents, legal custodians or adoptive parents

8. Ministry of Employment Sweden The right to parental leave is very flexible A parent has a right to full leave from work until the child is 18 months, independently of if parental benefit is payed or not. A parent can also, without the need of parental benefit, reduce his or her working time up to 25 percent until the child turns 8 years old.

9. Ministry of Employment Sweden Leave when recieving parental benefit In addition a parent has a right to leave when recieving parental benefit. This means that a parent have a right to full leave even after the child is 18 months old can reduce his or her normal working hours with more than 25 percent up to the child is 8 years old.

10. Ministry of Employment Sweden Leave for taking care of sick children A parent also has a right to leave to take care of a sick child up to the age of 12 Temporary parental benefit is given to a working parent Normally 60 days per year and child, but unlimited if the child is very sick. A parent can also transfer the right to temporary benefit to another employee, for example a grandfather, who in his turn has a right to leave from his work to take care of the child.

11. Ministry of Employment Sweden Using parental leave An employee are obliged to give notice of parental leave two months prior to the leave, or as soon as possible, if it is not possible. An employee is entitled to full leave when he or she demands, but the leave can only be divided into three periods per year. When taking leave in form of a reduction of working time the employer has more influence.

12. Ministry of Employment Sweden Who uses parental leave? The majority of the days of paid leave are used. Fathers take about 20 percent of the leave. 10 percent of fathers do not make use of the benefit at all.

13. Ministry of Employment Sweden Gender equality bonus Aims at promoting equal sharing between the father and the mother and increase gender equality on the labour market. Tax relief of a maximum of 300 EUR per month with is gradually reduced when the sharing becomes unequal.

14. Ministry of Employment Sweden Protection of employees on parental leave Right to return to the same job after the leave. Protection against discrimination due to the use or notice of parental leave, with a special rule on the burden of proof (the same as in the EU directive on discrimination), for example an employee has a right of rise of salary when on parental leave. If a employee during leave gets a notice to quit his or her work, the notice period will not start until the employee has returned from the leave.

15. Ministry of Employment Sweden No special rules for women or singel parents The objective of the working life policy in Sweden is to ensure good working conditions and opportunities for development at work for both women and men. A work environment that respect peoples different conditions A flexible parental insurance Through collective agreements, often extensive rights to flexibel working hours

16. Ministry of Employment Sweden Many women work in Swedan In 2009 78 % of women and 83 % of men in the age between 20 to 64 was working.