What must an employer do when child leave is requested? Can an employer refuse to grant child leave to an employee?

If the employee plans child leave through the Social Insurance Board, the employer will automatically be notified. If the employer agrees to the application to plan child leave, it does not have to do anything (e.g., it does not have to send a separate confirmation to the Social Insurance Board). If the employer has grounds for refusing to grant the leave, the employer notifies the Social Insurance Board thereof within five days, and the Social Insurance Board informs the employee of the refusal to grant the leave. If the employer does not notify the Social Insurance Board about refusal within five days of receipt of the notification of the request for leave, the employee’s leave is automatically confirmed.

In practice, there may be situations where child leave is included in the leave schedule and the employee submits a request for child leave at a different time from the one agreed upon, or where the employee does not comply with the notice period when submitting a request for child leave. The Social Insurance Board does not check or have an overview of the agreement between the parties on leave schedules or whether the parties have agreed on a more favourable notice period for the employee (for example, an agreement that the employee can request leave with a notice of less than 14 calendar days).

The refusal of the employer to grant the leave does not prevent the employee from requesting it again (subject to the aforementioned notice periods).