The period as new parents brings great joy, but it can also raise concerns about how time away from work may affect your employment. Increased absence as a parent can be due to several factors, such as lack of access to kindergarten places or illness affecting one of the parents.
There are several different types of leave linked to childbirth and the first phase of parenthood. All are designed to give both parents the right to time off work and to reduce the pressure you may experience from your employer. We speak to Tekna lawyer Mats Peterson Rinde Warren about different aspects of unpaid leave.
Does tekna receive many questions about leave and illness?
"Yes, we receive quite a few enquiries. This is particularly important for those who are unfortunate enough to be affected by illness. It is impossible to predict when illness will occur or how serious it will be, but long-term illness can in any case have significant consequences for your personal finances."
It is impossible to predict when illness will occur or how serious it will be.
Understanding what cover you have through insurance schemes provided by your employer – and how this cover may be affected by unpaid leave – is therefore essential. The same applies to pension accrual for both you and your partner through your respective employers, which can also be impacted when you take a period of unpaid leave.
Does everyone have the right to unpaid parental leave?
“In addition to paid parental leave, each parent is entitled to up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, provided that they have not taken partial parental leave. Splitting the leave into reduced working hours per day or per week means that the leave is considered partial.
The law requires that unpaid parental leave must be taken ‘immediately’ after the ordinary parental leave period. This places clear demands on parents to plan their parental leave carefully.”
Do you have the right to sickness benefits if you are on leave?
“To be entitled to sickness benefits, the National Insurance Act requires that you must have been ‘in work’ for at least four weeks immediately before you became unable to work due to illness. Periods during which you receive parental benefits are considered equivalent to being in work.
If you are away from work for more than 14 days on unpaid leave, the employment relationship is regarded as temporarily interrupted, and the right to sickness benefits lapses until you have completed a new four-week period of work. Absence from work due to holiday or time off in lieu does not count as an interruption of the employment relationship.”
Legal questions and answers
Do you have legal questions related to working life in Norway? Tekna’s lawyers provide clear answers to common employment law questions, helping you understand your rights and obligations as an employee.
The National Insurance Act provides certain exemptions from the strict requirements for entitlement to sickness benefits. These exemptions are intended for situations where a person’s connection to working life is considered strong enough to justify sickness benefit rights, for example during unpaid parental leave where there is an agreement to return to work after the leave, or during other types of leave related to childbirth.
Who pays for the sickness benefits?
In a normal situation, the employer pays sickness benefits for the first 16 days of a sick leave period, known as the employer period, before NAV takes over responsibility. However, the employer only covers periods for which salary would normally have been paid. During parental leave, you receive parental benefits rather than ordinary salary.
If you are on parental leave, NAV will cover loss of income up to six times the National Insurance basic amount (6G). Full compensation for loss of income requires an agreement with your employer, set out in your employment contract, staff handbook or a collective agreement.
You should therefore check what rights you have to insurance schemes and sickness benefits through your employer, and whether these rights cease during a period of leave.
During unpaid parental leave, the National Insurance Act only provides partial coverage of your loss of income. The sickness benefit basis is capped at six times the National Insurance basic amount (6G). In addition, during unpaid parental leave, the Act only provides compensation of 65 per cent of the sickness benefit basis, and only from the 15th day of sickness.
What about leave and pensions?
“Parental leave, both with and without parental benefits, may affect your pension accrual and the coverage of other rights and benefits you have through your employer. Tekna recommends that you familiarise yourself with the relevant provisions in your employment contract, collective agreement and staff handbook, and that you contact your employer’s HR department to clarify how a period of leave will affect your individual situation. If one of the parents finds it necessary to take unpaid leave, we recommend having an open discussion about how this financial loss should be shared between the two of you.”
Can you combine holiday, time off in lieu and unpaid leave to avoid losing sickness benefit rights?
To avoid losing full sickness benefit coverage during parental leave, it is possible to combine holiday, time off in lieu and unpaid leave for up to 14 days. Under the current regulations, this requires detailed planning, and such combinations are a solution that several parents choose to use. Since time off in lieu provides ordinary income and is therefore treated as returning to work, this solution means that you lose the right to a further 12 months of unpaid leave.
You should nevertheless be aware that this approach involves additional administrative work for the employer and requires good knowledge of the applicable regulations. Whether partial parental leave or such a combination would constitute an unreasonable burden on the employer must be assessed in each individual case. You do not have a statutory right to a solution involving multiple short periods of unpaid leave, but good dialogue with your employer – where you explain your situation and your needs – will usually result in workable solutions for both parties.
If you fall ill during parental leave, you may postpone the leave until the child turns three, or transfer the remaining days to the other parent. Taking holiday can also provide grounds for postponing parental leave. Holiday can also be used to rebuild entitlement to sickness benefits if there has been a break in employment due to leave lasting more than 14 days, provided that you have returned to work for at least one day.
You can find the rules for sickness benefits on unpaid leave.
More information about unpaid leave here.
We can also help you with questions regarding parental leave.
