Parental Leave
Parents with children up to the age of eight years old are entitled to parental leave. Both parents can take this. The employee can take parental leave for his or her child, adopted child or acknowledged child. They can also take parental leave for a foster child, stepchild or aspiring adoptive child if the child lives with the employee according to the key register of persons.
The statutory number of the leave hours is 26 times the number of working hours per week. The leave is taken in consultation between the employer and employee. The employee reports the intention to take the leave at least two months before the requested start date. The leave may be taken consecutively or, if the employer agrees, non-consecutively. An employee’s request to take the leave can not be refused by the employer. The employer may however change the requested leave days up to four weeks before the agreed start date. This can only happen when the employer has serious business interests to do so. The employer must consult with the employee about such a change.
Partly paid parental leave as of August 2022
Until August 2022, parental leave is unpaid. However, it is expected that as of 2nd of August 2022, employees are entitled to benefits from the UWV during the first 9 of the 26 weeks of the leave. The benefits amount to 50% of the employee’s salary, with a maximum of 50% of the maximum daily wage1. An important condition is that the paid leave of 9 weeks is taken in the first year of the child’s life. The remaining 17 weeks of unpaid parental leave can still be taken until the child’s eight birthday. During the leave employees do not accrue holidays.
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- The maximum daily wage is annually determined by the government. For the up-to-date statutory maximum daily wage, please refer to: https://www.uwv.nl/particulieren/bedragen/detail/maximumdagloon.