I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

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madsum
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 3:25 pm

I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

Post by madsum » Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:42 pm

Hi,

I am working fulltime. Our first child born on 29.04.2018. I am the father of the child. I have no idea about Kela benefits at all. Because I never applied for any Kela benefits so far. I heard that according to Finnish law, father gets few weeks day off. I didn't take any day off so far. We decided to delay my leave.

My question is that until how long I could delay father leave?

How many weeks could I get day off from my office?

How much will I be paid during my off period?

Thanks in advance!



I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

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heretostay
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 12:54 pm

Re: I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

Post by heretostay » Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:44 pm

Kela website has a lot of information in English https://www.kela.fi/web/en/families

madsum
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 3:25 pm

Re: I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

Post by madsum » Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:10 am

I checked Kela information already. It is not easy to understand Kela's terms and conditions. And that is why I had to ask the question here :D

inkku
Posts: 922
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:26 pm

Re: I need some information about paternity allowance and leaves

Post by inkku » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:42 am

as said above, this is copied from Kela website, what is so difficult?

Paternity allowance

The paternity leave can last up to 54 working days or about 9 weeks. Fathers can choose to stay at home for 1 to 18 days at the same time as the child's mother while she is paid maternity or parental allowance. The rest of the leave can be taken after the parental allowance has ended.

In addition to the paternity leave, fathers can have the following family leaves after the birth of their child:

parental leave after the mother has been on maternity leave. This parental leave can also be shared with the mother.
child care leave following the parental leave.
partial child care leave if they return to work on a part-time basis.

Timing of the paternity leave

You can go on paternity leave when your child is born. Fathers can, if they wish, use all of their paternity allowance entitlement after the maternity and parental allowance period. You must take paternity leave before your child reaches the age of two or before two years have passed since the child was adopted.

You can take the leave all at one time or break it up into shorter periods. The 1 to 18 days that may be taken at the same time as the child's mother can be broken up into as many as 4 periods. The paternity leave entitlement following the payment of the parental allowance can be divided into 2 periods. If, for example, the father after the parental allowance period claims paternity allowance from Monday to Friday one week and from Monday to Friday again the following week, he will have used up both of the 2 allowed periods, although he will not have used up the maximum number of days available. None of the paternity leave entitlement can be transferred to the mother.

If you take paternity leave after the parental allowance period has ended your child can attend day care before the paternity leave leave. Tell the day care provider that your child will stay home during the paternity leave at least two weeks before the leave is set to begin. Your decision to take paternity leave does not mean that you have to give up your child's place in day care. However, your child cannot attend day care during the paternity leave. Other children in your family can attend day care while you are on paternity leave.

You should note that any paternity allowance you are paid after the parental allowance period will affect the child care allowance. Find out how the paternity leave affects the child home care allowance and the private day care allowance.
Paternity allowance during the paternity leave

During the paternity leave, Kela pays you a paternity allowance. Find out if your employer will pay you a salary during the paternity leave. You will need this information when claiming paternity allowance. Notify your employer at least 2 months before taking a paternity leave. If you will be taking 12 or fewer working days off, the pre-notification period is just one month.You can claim paternity allowance also if you are, for example, self-employed, unemployed or a student.

Do not claim paternity allowance until the child has been born and you know when you wish to take a paternity leave. Claim the allowance for a single contiguous period or for several shorter periods if you wish to divide it. Paternity allowance is paid for all days of the week except for Sundays and holidays that fall on a weekday. You can choose the days for which to claim paternity allowance. For example, you can choose to receive paternity allowance for Saturdays or choose not to receive it.

It is worth noting, however, that if your employer pays you a salary during the paternity leave, the paternity allowance will be paid to your employer. If the paternity leave includes paid days off, the allowance will be paid to the employer for those days as well. For example, if a paid paternity leave spans a weekend and Saturday is a paid day off, the paternity allowance will be paid to the employer also for the Saturday, in which case the Saturday will count against the father's paternity allowance entitlement.
Entitlement to the paternity allowance

You are entitled to a paternity allowance if you are married to or living together with the child's mother and you take part in the child care responsibilities. You can get paternity allowance even if you temporarily live at different addresses if the separation is due, for example, to work arrangements and not to a breakup of your relationship.

A father who is responsible for the care of a child but is not married to or cohabiting with the child’s mother, is entitled to a paternity allowance if he assumed the care of the child on or after 1 March 2017. You need not be living with the child, but must be a caregiver for him or her during your paternity leave.

Paternity allowance can be paid also to adoptive fathers. Learn more about the paternity allowance for LGBT parents.
Welcoming a new child into your family

The paternity leave is a child-specific entitlement. If a child is born to you or you adopt a child, and you have paternity allowance entitlement left over from a previous birth or adoption, you can use up to 24 of those days consecutively while the child's mother is on maternity or parental leave for the latest birth or adoption. You must take paternity leave before your child reaches the age of two or before two years have passed since the child was adopted. As far as your paternity allowance entitlement based on the latest birth or adoption is concerned, you can take up to 18 days with the child's mother. In total, fathers may take up to to 42 days of paternity allowance while the child's mother receives maternity or parental allowance. Paternity allowance is payable for only one child at a time.
Study and work during the paternity leave

In order to qualify for a paternity allowance, you may not work or study on a full-time basis during the paternity leave. Working on Sundays and other holidays is allowed because paternity allowance is only payable for working days.

Working refers to all kinds of gainful activity, including telecommuting from home or being on call or standby. Further, it includes working in a company owned personally or by a family member, agricultural and forestry work, independent scientific work, and holding an office of public trust which is related to one's principal employment or comes with monetary compensation. Being an informal or family caregiver is also considered as a gainful activity.
Read more

Amount of the paternity allowance
Information leaflet Vauva tulossa (Baby on the Way) (pdf)
Brochure Home and Family (pdf)
Amount and payment of parental allowances

The maternity, special maternity, paternity and parental allowances are all calculated in the same way. The easiest way to calculate your allowance is to use this calculator. To see how long you can get the allowance and when your leave will begin, use this calculator.

The allowances are usually calculated on the basis of earned income for the previous year, as confirmed for tax purposes. If you do not have earned income, you get the allowance at the minimum rate. The allowances can also be calculated in the following three ways:

on the basis of some other benefit you received earlier, provided that you have been a student, in rehabilitation, or unemployed, and also provided that the allowance, calculated this way, would be larger than if it were calculated on the basis of your earned income.
on the basis of the same earnings as an immediately preceding allowance if the expected due date of the next child occurs before the second-youngest sibling is 3 years old.
on the basis of your earned income for the 6 months preceding the allowance if your income is at least 20% higher than the income confirmed for tax purposes.

Maternity, paternity and parental allowances are affected by your circumstances and your income. The same formula is used to calculate all of the allowances.

Maternity, paternity and parental allowances are paid for working days. Working days are Monday to Saturday, with the exception of official holidays.

If you have had no income from work, you will be paid the allowance at a minimum rate.

The minimum rate is €24.64 per working day.

Annual earnings (€): gross earnings minus deductions Maternity, paternity or parental allowance, € per working day (before taxes)
Examples of the rates of maternity, paternity and parental allowances calculated on the basis of earnings (2018)
0-10,562 24.64
15,500 36.17
18,000 42.00
20,500 47.83
30,000 70.00
40,000 90.50
50,000 103.83
60,000 115.76

Earnings include salaries, income under the Self-Employed Persons' and Farmers' Pensions Acts, and income from self-employment. Such income as dividends are usually not considered earnings.

Generally, the rates of maternity, paternity and parental allowances are calculated on the basis of earnings confirmed for tax purposes, and not on the basis of your current income. For example, an allowance beginning on 31 December 2015 would have been calculated on the basis of 2013 income as confirmed for tax purposes. An allowance beginning on 1 January 2016 would have been calculated on the basis of income for 2014. When completing a claim via Kela's online customer service system, you can see your income as confirmed for tax purposes.
Increased rate of payment for maternity allowance

Maternity allowance is paid at an increased rate of up to 90% of earnings for the first 56 days of payment. The increased rate of payment is only available to those whose allowance is based on earnings or insurable income under the Self-Employed Persons' Pensions (YEL) Act or the Farmers' Pensions (MYEL) Act. Calculation formulas for maternity, paternity and parental allowances
Allowances which are paid for the same child but during different parental leave periods

All allowances paid for one and the same child are calculated on the basis of the same income, such as when a person first receives maternity or paternity allowance and later begins to receive parental allowance. For example, when a father receives paternity allowance in several different periods, the paternity allowance paid during the latter periods is calculated on the basis of the same income as the initial allowance even if the father's income increases or decreases in the meantime.
Having a child before the second-youngest child is 3 years old

If you have a child before your second-youngest child is 3 years old, you can get maternity, paternity and parental allowance on the basis of the same work income as was used with the second-youngest child. The requirement for this is that the expected due date precedes the second-youngest child's 3rd birthday. If the earlier allowance was calculated on the basis of a preceding benefit and not on the basis of earnings, this method of calculation cannot be used.

Similarly, adoptive parents can get a maternity, paternity or parental allowance on the basis of a preceding allowance if they take an adopted child into their care before three years have passed since an older adopted child was placed in their care.

This rule can be used whenever a child is born before an older sibling has reached the age of 3 years. For example, if parents have their first child in 2008, their second in 2011 and their third in 2014, the allowance for all three children can be calculated on the basis of the allowance paid for the first child.

When earnings used to calculate a previous maternity, paternity or parental allowance are used to determine a new allowance, the earnings are adjusted by wage coefficients for the year in which the entitlement for the allowance begins and the preceding year. This may mean a change in the rate of the allowance, even if the earnings used as the basis for calculating the allowances are the same.

When claiming a maternity, paternity or parental allowance, you do not need to tell Kela that you want it to be paid on the basis of your earlier income. This information will be available to Kela automatically when dealing with your claim.
Payment

Maternity and special maternity allowances are paid in arrears every 25 working days. The initial maternity allowance instalment, however, is for 30 days.

Parental allowance is paid in arrears every 25 working days. However, the final instalment of the parental allowance is paid after the allowance period is over.

Paternity allowance is paid in arrears for one or several paternity leave periods at a time.

Visit Kela's online customer service to check the next payment date. Log in using your online banking user ID and password or a mobile certificate.


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