(1) Employees who have children in their care are entitled to leave of absence:- a.when necessary to attend to a sick child,
- b.if a child shall be accompanied to a medical examination or other follow-ups in connection with sickness, or
- c.if the person responsible for the daily childcare is sick or has a leave of absence pursuant to this section owing to another child.
(2) The right to leave of absence pursuant to this section applies up to and including the calendar year of the child's twelfth birthday. An employee shall be entitled to a maximum of 10 days' leave of absence per calendar year or a maximum of 15 days if the employee has three or more children in his or her care.(3) If the child has a chronic or long-term illness or disability and there is therefore a markedly greater risk of the employee being absent from work, the employee is entitled to a maximum of 20 days' leave of absence pursuant to the first paragraph per calendar year. The right to leave of absence applies up to and including the calendar year of the child's eighteenth birthday. An employee is similarly entitled to a leave of absence to attend training at an approved health institution or public resource centre to be able to take care of and treat the child.(4) An employee who has responsibility for the care of children shall be entitled to leave of absence if:- a.the child is hospitalised and the employee resides at the health institution,
- b.the child has been discharged from a health institution and the employee must stay at home because the child needs continuous care and attention, or
- c.the child is suffering from a life-threatening or other extremely serious sickness or injury.
In connection with leave of absence pursuant to (a) and (b) the age limits laid down in the second and third paragraph shall apply. Entitlement to leave of absence pursuant to (c) applies up to and including the calendar year of the child's eighteenth birthday, regardless of age if the child has a mental disability.
(5) An employee is regardless entitled to leave of absence when care allowance, attendance allowance or training allowance is paid by the National Insurance.(6) An employee who has sole responsibility for the care of a child shall be entitled to twice the number of days of leave as provided by the second and third paragraphs. The same applies if there are two persons responsible for such childcare but one of them is prevented for a long period from supervising the child owing to a personal disability, admission to a health institution as a long-term patient, being in prison, serving military service or similar circumstances. Up to half of the days of such leave each calendar year may be transferred to a mother or father with the right of access or to a person with whom the employee lives who does not have responsibility for the care of his or her children.
