The employee is entitled to pregnancy leave from work due to pregnancy or childbirth. An employee is entitled to parental leave from work for the purpose of caring for a child. The child's parent, who is the child's primary guardian, has the right to parental allowance. Parent refers to legal parents and equally to both biological and adoptive parents.

Pregnancy leave begins 30 working days before the baby’s due date. The employer and the employee may agree to postpone pregnancy leave so that it begins no later than 14 working days before the due date.

Parental allowance is paid on the basis of the birth and adoption of a child for a maximum of 320 working days. If a child has two parents, 160 working days are available for each. In addition to these days, the pregnant person still has 40 days of pregnancy allowance before transferring to parental allowance.

If more than one child is born or adopted at the same time, an additional 84 working days of parental allowance will be paid for each child.

A parent may hand over a maximum of 63 parental allowance days to the other parent, the child's other guardian, their spouse or the spouse of the other parent.

The employee has the right to take parental leave in up to four separate blocks, which must each be at least 12 working days in length.

The employee may use parental allowance days until the child has reached the age of two or for two years after the adoption of a child.

Special pregnancy leave

A pregnant employee can, under certain conditions, be granted special pregnancy leave. An employee can be granted leave, if

• a chemical agent,
• radiation or a contagious disease
• or other similar factors endanger the health of the employee or the fetus.

A prerequisite for paying the special pregnancy allowance is that the pregnant person is fit for work and that no other work can be arranged for them and they, therefore, have to be absent from work. In addition, a prerequisite is that the pregnant person is not working at other jobs either.

The special pregnancy allowance is paid for the period during which the pregnant person is prevented from carrying out their work due to a risk factor related to the work, but at the latest until the pregnant person's right to a pregnancy allowance begins.

The health implications of the employee’s working conditions are evaluated by the employer’s occupational health care provider, and eligibility for a special pregnancy allowance is decided by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. Employees who are deemed eligible for the special pregnancy allowance are also entitled to special pregnancy leave. Special pregnancy allowance payments end if the risk in the employee’s working conditions can be eliminated or if their employment contract ends.

Special pregnancy allowance payments can be made from the beginning of the employee’s pregnancy until they become eligible for a standard pregnancy allowance. The special pregnancy allowance is for the same amount as the standard pregnancy allowance, and it has no impact on the amount of the standard pregnancy allowance that will ultimately be payable to the employee. In a fixed-term employment relationship, you are only eligible to receive special pregnancy allowance during the term of employment.

Protection of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth

Within 14 weeks of the start of the pregnancy leave and with the consent of the employer, the employee may only carry out work that does not endanger the safety of either the employee or the child who has been born.

Both the employer and the employee can end the work carried out at this time. However, working is forbidden during the two weeks leading up to the due date and the first two weeks after childbirth.

Part-time parental leave

The employer and the employee may agree that an employee will take parental leave on a part-time basis and agree on the terms of part-time work.

The termination part-time work during part-time parental leave and changing the terms and conditions must be agreed upon. If agreement cannot be reached, the employee has the right, for a valid reason, to stop working part-time and continue their full-time parental leave or resume their former working hours.

If the employer refuses to conclude a part-time parental leave agreement, this must be justified in writing.

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