Employee Leave Rights in Sweden

The two most common forms of employee leave that companies encounter are Parental Leave and Education Leave.

The parental Leave Act

Employees with young children are entitled to certain types of leave in order to take care of their children. The rights of employees in this respect are set out in the Parental Leave Act.

Under the Parental Leave Act a person may be on full-time leave from work for 16 months after the birth of a child – for example with the parent’s allowance from the social insurance office, which is payable for a total of 480 days per child until the child has reached the age of eight.

The parent’s allowance may be taken as full-time, three-quarters time, half-time or quarter time payment and with various levels of payment during the period of payment in order to be at home longer. Apart from full-time leave for the first 18 months, parents are entitled to reduce their working hours to three quarters of full time until the child has reached the age of eight.

When the child becomes ill, the parent is entitled to so-called temporary parent’s allowance from the social insurance office – and leave from work.

In order to be entitled to leave under the Parental Leave Act a person must have been employed by his or her employer for at least six months or a total of at least twelve months in the past two years. Exceptions: Regardless of the length of employment the mother is entitled to leave for at least seven weeks before and seven weeks after the birth. A woman who cannot carry out her normal duties due to pregnancy is, in addition, entitled to be transferred at the workplace during her pregnancy.

A person wishing to exercise their right to leave under the Parental Leave Act must – as a main rule – notify this to the employer at least two months before the start of the leave. If this is not possible (for example: sudden illness of the child), this shall be done as soon as possible.

The Educational Leave Act

The Educational Leave Act came into being in order to facilitate participation in adult education and trade union study activities. The main rule is that no one should be refused study leave.

If the leave is for trade union studies there are no special requirements concerning the length of employment. For other studies, however, the employee must have worked for six months continuously or for twelve months in the past two years.

The right to study leave applies to all types of study, apart from pure self-instruction and such activities that may be regarded as hobbies, such as riding camps, china painting etc.

The Act does not regulate the length of the studies but stipulates that this may not be longer than necessary to achieve the objective of the studies.
The main rule is that the employee is entitled to study leave when she/he so wishes. Since leave of absence can create difficulties for the employer, the employer has the right to postpone the leave within a certain established framework. Leave for trade union studies may be postponed for 14 days and other studies for six months, counted from the day of application.