Parental leave for mother or father

Parental leave starts after maternity leave. For the duration of parental leave, Kela pays 158 working days of parental allowance, which is just over 6 months. The child is about 9 months old when the parental allowance ends. Working days are weekdays from Monday to Saturday excluding weekday holidays. You can calculate with the calculator for the parental allowance period (only in Finnish) for which period you can receive parental allowance.

Parental leave can be taken by the mother or the father. The parents can also alternate the leave, but not take it at the same time (with the exception of multiple birth families). If the leave is divided, both parents can take a maximum of 2 separate periods and they must last at least 12 working days.

The father and mother can take partial parental leave at the same time, in which case both of them work part time and receive partial parental allowance.

Working during parental leave

The mother can work during parental leave, in which case parental allowance is paid at the minimum rate for the working days (see Amount). Working on Sundays has no effect on the allowance. However, the father may not work during his leave, except on Sundays. If the father works during the leave, no parental allowance is paid for the working days.

Updated 03/05/13