Can a worker stay home and get paid if a child’s school or day care closes?
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In the municipal sector there are several strikes and other industrial action ongoing to speed up the collective agreement negotiations. Therefore, PAM members might face a situation where they cannot get to their workplace because it is closed, or they must stay home to care for a small child.
The impact on income depends on if it is the worker’s place of work that is closed, or if a worker cannot work because a child’s day care or school is closed.
If a worker must stay home to care for a child
A worker can stay home, if it is necessary because a small child’s day care or school is closed. But in that case the employer does not have an obligation to pay salary.
If the absence from work is necessary, there can be no warning given or other consequences for the worker.
If a child’s day care or school is closed because of a strike, the employer might be able to change shifts or in some other way help so the worker can go to work.
“It’s worth trying to agree on this with the employer. There is no automatic right to be absent from work in a situation like this, so the situation should be explained to the employer beforehand”, says PAM’s Advisory Services Manager Juha Ojala.
If the absence would be to care for a sick child under the age of 10, the situation would be different. In collective agreements there are provisions about getting pay for a few days to care for a sick child.
If work is not possible at your place of work
If a worker cannot work at their own place of work because of industrial action (for example strike) by workers in another sector or because of employers’ measures (for example lockout), then the worker is entitled to pay for no more than seven days. Part-time workers also have a right to pay and income-adjusted allowance.
The industrial action must not be about the worker’s own terms of employment or working conditions.
If a strike or lockout lasts over 7 days, the worker needs to register at the TE office as an unemployed jobseeker. After this, the PAM member can apply for unemployment allowance from the PAM Unemployment Fund. The Unemployment Fund then pays out unemployment allowance based on the TE office’s statement.
News on strikes in other sectors (in Finnish)