How long in advance should my employer be notified before I take child leave?

If child leave is not included in the leave schedule but the employee wishes to use it for 15 calendar days or less in a row, the employee must give at least a 14 calendar days’ notice of the use of leave not included in the leave schedule. If a parent wishes to take more than 15 consecutive calendar days of unscheduled child leave, the employee must give at least a 30 calendar days’ notice. The employee and the employer can agree that the employee can give shorter notice of the use of child leave.

Days of leave can be planned in the self-service portal of the Social Insurance Board. Only those who do not have the possibility to plan the leave in the self-service portal (for example, spouse of a parent, if the biological parent has given up child leave days in favour of the spouse of the parent) need to separately indicate their wish to plan the leave.

As the employee applies for child leave through the Social Insurance Board, the employee does not have to inform the employer separately. The Social Insurance Board automatically informs the employer of the employee’s request for leave. It is important that the employee schedules the leave days in the self-service portal in accordance with the above notice periods. An employee can submit a request for child leave in the Social Insurance Board’s information system up to two months before the leave is due to be taken.