Parental leave by country / Finland
Maternity, paternity and parental leave in Finland
How long each parent can be away, who pays and how much, the notice rules and the job protection — in plain English, whether you run a team in Finland or work on one.
Finland’s 2022 family leave reform gives each parent 160 working days of parental allowance — 320 in total per child — of which a parent may transfer up to 63 days to the other parent, another guardian or their spouse. The pregnant parent also receives a pregnancy allowance for 40 working days before the parental allowance begins. Kela pays both at an income-based rate, roughly 70% of earnings for average incomes; employers pay salary during leave only where a collective agreement requires it, as many do for the first weeks. After the allowance days, either parent may take unpaid child-care leave until the child turns three.
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How it works
For children with a due date from 4 September 2022, the Health Insurance Act replaces the old maternity, paternity and parental allowances with a pregnancy allowance of 40 working days (Monday to Saturday), starting 14 to 30 days before the due date, and a parental allowance of 320 working days per child split equally: 160 days for each parent, 97 of which are non-transferable and 63 transferable. The days can be taken in up to four periods per parent until the child is two, full-time or as partial allowance alongside part-time work, and both parents may be on leave at the same time for up to 18 days. A single parent receives all 320 days. Kela calculates the allowance from annual earnings on a progressive scale — about 70% for typical wages, with a minimum daily amount — and pays it to the employer where salary continues. The Employment Contracts Act protects the corresponding leave and adds child-care leave (hoitovapaa) until the child is three, unpaid but with Kela’s home care allowance, and partial child-care leave until the end of the second school year.
Worth knowing: Finland’s design is deliberately gender-neutral: apart from the 40-day pregnancy allowance, every entitlement is per parent, and the same rules apply to adoptive parents and to families with two mothers or two fathers.
If you run a team in Finland
Grant the leave on two months’ notice (one month for periods of up to 12 working days), pay salary only where your collective agreement requires it, and claim the allowance from Kela for those days. Both parents may be off simultaneously for up to 18 days. Dismissal on grounds of pregnancy or family leave is prohibited, and the employee returns to the same or equivalent work. Annual holiday accrues for up to 160 working days of parental leave per parent per child.
If you work in Finland
Apply to Kela for the pregnancy allowance about two months before the due date and for parental allowance days as you plan them. Tell your employer at least two months before each period of leave. Decide together how to split the 320 days — each of you keeps 97 non-transferable days and may hand over up to 63. Check your collective agreement for salary during the first weeks.
Parental leave and annual leave
Under the Annual Holidays Act, up to 160 working days of pregnancy and parental leave per parent per child count as time worked for holiday accrual; child-care leave does not.
The annual leave entitlement itself is covered on our Finland annual leave page — 25 working days minimum.
Keeping the record straight
Long leaves are where leave records go wrong quietly: holiday that kept accruing for months and was never credited, a return date nobody diarised, a reduced entitlement applied where the law forbids it. In Finland the rules above decide what is owed on return, and the record has to show it. A tracker like Leavo keeps the leave, the accrual and the approvals in one place so the return is a date, not a dispute. We compare the options in our leave management software guide, and the policy side — carryover, payout, accrual — in our guides.
Parental leave in Finland: common questions
How many days can be transferred to the other parent?
Up to 63 of a parent’s 160 days, to the other parent, the parent’s spouse or another guardian. The remaining 97 days are personal and lapse if unused by the child’s second birthday.
Is there still a separate maternity leave?
Only the 40-day pregnancy allowance before the birth. After that the mother draws on her 160 parental allowance days like the other parent.
Does the employer pay salary during family leave?
Only if the collective agreement or contract says so. Many agreements pay full salary for the pregnancy leave and the first weeks of parental leave; Kela then pays the allowance to the employer for those days.
Does annual leave accrue during maternity or parental leave in Finland?
Under the Annual Holidays Act, up to 160 working days of pregnancy and parental leave per parent per child count as time worked for holiday accrual; child-care leave does not.
Source
Primary source: Health Insurance Act, chapter 9 (pregnancy and parental allowance, reformed 2022); Employment Contracts Act, chapter 4 (family leave). Benefit rates and ceilings change every year and collective agreements frequently improve on the statutory scheme — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.