Leaves

Study leave

You can go on a study leave from work to develop you competence. Studying often means that your income level will decrease. Therefore society supports students financially in a number of ways. A full-time student can apply for a student allowance with Kela. You can also apply for the adult education allowance from the Employment Fund, if you have been in working life at least eight years by the time the allowance will start.

Student allowance

Student allowance can replace livelihood during studies. The student allowance consists of a student grant, the government guarantee of a student loan and the housing allowance.  The conditions for granting the allowance are different in vocational and university education. The preconditions for getting the student allowance are full-time studies, progressing in your studies and the need for financial support.

Adult education allowance

You can study as an adult, too. Adult education allowance is meant for securing a livelihood during studies for those who have been in working life for some time already. The precondition for the allowance is at least eight years work history, of which at least one year is in the current employer’s service. The beneficiary of the adult education allowance must be on a study leave from their work. The allowance is meant for studies in educational institutions under public supervision. If you have work income during studies, you can apply for an adult education allowance as an adjusted benefit. Also entrepreneurs can get adult education allowance. The adult education allowance is granted by the Employment Fund.

The vocational examination grant is a one-off incentive that can be granted to a person with a vocational basic or special examination and at least five years’ work history.

Family leave

The aim of family leaves is to help employees to combine work and family. A parent can go on a leave from work to care for a child, and there are alternatives to the livelihood although the regular salary is no longer paid.

Maternity leave and special maternity leave can only be taken by mothers and paternity leave by fathers. All other family leaves the father and mother can share between them.

Employees have a right to family leaves when the preconditions in law are met and the employee notifies of the leave in due course with regard to the period of notice. As far as the partial child-care leave is concerned, the employer can in specific exceptional situations deny a family leave.

	When?	The length of the leave	Livelihood
Pregnancy leave	14-30 working days before the expected date of delivery	40 working days	Pregnancy allowance*
Special pregnancy leave	As soon as the pregnancy is discovered	Until the pregnancy leave starts	Special maternity allowance
Parental leave	Until the child turns two years	A maximum of 320 working days in total, 160 working days for each parent.	Parental allowances
Child-care allowance	As the parental leave ends	Until the child turns three years.	Child home care allowance Private day care allowance
Partial care allowance	A parent works maximum 30 hours a week due to child care.	With a child under three years. With a 1. and 2. former.	When a child is under three years old: Flexible care allowance * When a child is on the 1. and 2. year in school: Partial care allowance *
Temporary child care leave	The parent having to stay home when a child under 10 falls ill	Four days / child / illness	The collective labour agreement may grant a pay for 1-4 days. Check your work contract!
Absence due to compelling family-related reasons	Due to an unexpected and compelling reason caused by an illness or accident	The duration has not been determined by law, it is approximately a week, depending on the situation.	Ask the employer if the absence is paid.
Absence to care for a family member or close relative or friend	For special care for a family member or close relative or friend. e.g. palliative care	The duration and other arrangements to be agreed with the employer.	Ask the employer if the absence is paid.

* The payment of the flexible child care allowance ends when the child turns three. The parent can continue on the partial child dare leave, but no benefit is paid for it. The right to a benefit exists when a parent is on a partial child-care leave for a child on the 1. and 2. school year. Then the parent is paid a partial child care allowance.

Your employer may pay wages for the duration of maternity or paternity leave. So check your work contract!

The duration of family leave

Consider carefully how long you announce your family leave to be, since the time or length of a family leave cannot be automatically changed after the notification. If you go on a long family leave, it is recommended to agree how you will stay in touch with your supervisor during the leave. As the family leave ends, employees have the right to primarily return to their earlier work. If this is not possible, the employee must be offered a similar job as the previous one, in compliance with the work contract, and if that is not possible either, other work in compliance with the work contract.

Pay on family leave

By law, the employer has no obligation to pay wages for the duration of a family leave, but many collective labour agreements  provide for the wage payment during a leave. You should also ask your supervisor if you can use e.g. annual leave days for your leave, if the period of leave is otherwise difficult to arrange in financial terms.

Check out a quick guide by Kela for families with children >>