On 20 September 2023, the National Council adopted legislative amendments to parental leave, parental part-time leave and care leave, as well as to blocked partial retirement, in implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers. The following article summarizes the most important changes.

Parental leave

In the future, the statutory entitlement to parental leave totaling 24 months can only be fully ex-hausted if both parents take at least two months each. Parental leave will be reduced to a total of 22 months if only one parent takes parental leave. There are exceptions for single parents and families in which one parent is not entitled to parental leave, for example due to self-employment or unemployment. In those cases, the other parent can still take the full 24 months parental leave.

Deferred parental leave

There is now protection against dismissal due to deferred parental leave and employees can demand a written statement of reasons for the employer's dismissal in connection with deferred parental leave. Employers must now give reasons for refusing deferred parental leave in writing.

Part-time parental leave

In the future, employees can take parental part-time leave until their child turns eight years old. Employers must provide written reasons for the rejection of an application for parental part-time leave. Employees may request a written statement of reasons for an employer's dismissal in connection with parental part-time work.

Care leave

Leave of absence to care for close relatives is now also possible if they do not live in the same household as the employee. Employees can now also apply for leave of absence to care for people who live in the same household but are not considered close relatives. There is protection against dismissal due to care leave, and employees can request a written explanation of the reason for the employer's dismissal during their care leave.

Further changes

In the future, the protection against discrimination provided by the Equal Treatment Act will also apply to discrimination in connection with parental leave, parental part-time work, care leave and other leaves of absence for family reasons, even if there is no discrimination based on gender.
Limitation and expiration periods will now be suspended until two weeks after the end of a general leave of absence and a leave of absence for childbirth, care leave, a leave of absence due to illness or accident of a close relative or a leave of absence to provide end-of-life care for seriously ill children.

Another change relates to blocked partial retirement. Subsidies for the blocked version of partial retirement will be gradually reduced from 2024 until 2029. Blocked part-time agreements with a term beginning on or after January 1, 2029, will no longer qualify for any subsidies at all.