Parental leave when working in Denmark
Financial compensation - check the agreements at your workplace
Whether you have the right to get full salary or not during your parental leave in Denmark depends on the agreements that are in place at your workplace. In some cases the employer pays the full salary during part of the period of leave, and in other cases the authority Udbetaling Denmark pays the money. Check with your employer to find out which rules apply in your workplace.
Read about parental leave at borger.dk
Length of parental leave in Denmark
In total, parents in Denmark get 52 weeks of paid parental leave. The general rule is that the mother has the right to four weeks of leave directly before the planned birth and then to a further 14 weeks of leave after birth.
The father is entitled to take two weeks of leave during the first fourteen weeks after the birth of the child. Then 32 weeks follow where the mother and father can freely share leave between them. They can choose to be on parental leave at the same time or in periods one after the other.
If one parent works in Sweden, they are able to be on parental leave at the same time for 30 days, in addition to the 2 weeks that the father can take after the birth of the child.
For more information on the rules when the mother works in Denmark and the father in Sweden or vice versa, please contact Försäkringskassan at Øresunddirekt's Informationcenter in Malmö.
Extended parental leave
The right to paid parental leave (barselsdagpenge) applies for a total of 52 weeks. As a parent, you are entitled to extend the 32 joint weeks by either 8 or 14 weeks, by receiving a smaller amount of parental allowance each month. The pay for the 32-week period is then spread out over either 40 or 46 weeks.
If you want to extend your parental leave you need to give your employer notice about that before you child is 8 weeks old. You also need to notify Udbetaling Danmark.
Good to know: The extension may have an impact on the number of days to be deducted from the other parent's days in Sweden. Please contact Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) at Øresunddirekt in Malmö, who can inform you of the consequences.
One of the parents can also choose to defer between 8 and 13 weeks of leave. The saved leave must be kept for a continuous period before the child is nine years old.
Further information
If you need further information on parental leave in Denmark, you can contact your trade union, Udbetaling Danmark or Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) at Øresunddirekt's Informationcenter in Malmö.
