Have we gotten extra care days?
All employees in the EU are entitled to five days of dependants’ leave each calendar year. Finansforbundet’s lawyer guides you on the new rules.
Question:
Could it be that we have gotten more care days than what is part of the collective agreement? And is this also true for salary?
Answer from Helene Bukbjerg Krog, legal consultant in Finansforbundet:
On 2 August 2022, they introduced a right for all employees in the EU to take five days of unpaid dependants’ leave each calendar year.
The right is part of the same directive as earmarked parental leave.
The unpaid dependants’ leave must be used to provide personal care or support to one’s own children, parents, spouse or partner, or a person who lives in the same household as the employee who needs significant care or support due to a serious health condition.
For example, this could be to accompany a relative who needs to be examined for a serious illness such as dementia or cancer.
It might also be to accompany a relative suffering from a serious physical or mental health condition for a blood test or doctor’s visit.
It might also be for situations where the employee provides care or support to a dying or ill person who is hospitalised, in hospice, a nursing home, or a similar situation.
The employer may require the employee to document a medical need for significant care or support due to a serious health condition, e.g. by presenting a summons for treatment.
This dependants’ leave is not paid and can be taken as individual days or all at once. Unused unpaid care days expire at the end of the year, which means that unpaid dependants’ leave cannot be accumulated over multiple years.
During the period from 2 August 2022 to 31 December 2022, employees will be entitled to a proportionate number of regular care days corresponding to 2 unpaid care days.
The unpaid dependants’ leave is a right in addition to the regular right to dependants’ leave in accordance with the standard collective agreement between Finansforbundet and Finanssektorens Arbejdsgiverforening.
The regular dependants’ leave established in the collective agreement can be taken as agreed with the employer and is not conditional on being for a specific purpose.