Did you know? Dads are entitled to baby leave too
Every father is entitled to paternity leave. Paternity benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) or the employer.
Employment Contracts Act (55/2001), Chapter 4, Family leave, section 1: Employees shall be entitled to take leave from work during maternity, special maternity, paternity and parental benefit periods as referred to in the Health Insurance Act. Employees shall be entitled to take parental leave in one or two periods, the minimum duration of which shall be 12 working days.
Every father is entitled to paternity leave. Paternity benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) or the employer.
Politicians are planning major changes to family leave schemes. For the time being, the Employment Contracts Act and the Health Insurance Act specify that the duration of paternity leave is 54 weekdays, equalling about 9 weeks. Kela pays fathers a daily allowance adjusted according to income. In addition, several collective agreements stipulate that the employer pays a share of the paternity benefit. This is the case in the collective agreement governing ski resorts, for example.
We asked caretaker Taneli Kumpula if he was aware of this section of the law.
- Yes, it was very familiar to me.
Have you ever needed this section of the law?
- I have been on paternity leave twice, most recently in the late summer of 2015. I have three children. When my first child was born, I could not afford to take paternity leave. When my middle child was born, I decided that I wanted to stay at home, even though it set me back financially. It was such a good experience that I also took paternity leave with our youngest child.
Before my first paternity leave, I didn’t know that my employer was required to cover my pay for the first 6 days of leave. This misunderstanding resulted in some paperwork with Kela, but my employer covered the difference afterwards. The second time, I was wiser and had no problem applying for the paternity benefit.
Are people at your workplace aware of the right to paternity leave?
- Yes, they are. As a shop steward, it is easy for me to advise others now that I have personal experience of it. It has been easy to agree paternity leave periods with the employer.
Text:: Solja Virkkunen