General information on the right to parental leave
The right to maternity and paternity leave is 6 months.
Up to 6 weeks may be transferred to the other parent.
Parents can start their leave up to one month before the expected date of birth of the child.
Primary adoption
Parents who adopt a child under the age of 8 may be entitled to maternity and paternity leave. This applies in the case of primary adoption. Primary adoption refers to the adoption of a child that is not a child or the adopted child of the spouse of the applicant or of a cohabiting partner.
Foster care
When a child under the age of 8 is taken into permanent foster care, parents may be entitled to maternity and paternity leave. Both parents may start the leave when the child enters the home.
Early start of leave
If there is a trial period before the primary adoption or permanent foster care of a child, or if the child is adopted from abroad, the leave can start before that time, providing that The Child Welfare Committee or the relevant authorities have confirmed.
Entry into the home
The date of entry into the home is the date of adoption or permanent foster care, rather than the expected date of birth, when referring to the right to maternity and paternity leave.
Entitlement to maternity and paternity leave expires 24 months after the child enters the home.
Work
The right to maternity and paternity leave is established when a parent has worked in Iceland continuously for the last 6 months before a child's date of birth, in at least 25% work percentage, either as a wage earner or self-employed.
25% employment rate
Full-time employment is 172 hours per month, so 43 hours per month would generally be considered to be 25% employment. Full-time employment can however be defined differently in a collective agreement. The definition in an agreement is then taken into account. Parents who are not employed or in less than 25% employment may be entitled to a birth grant.
Apart from traditional work, participation in the labour market includes:
A parent who worked in another EEA country during the last 6 months before the birth of a child may be entitled to maternity and paternity leave.
Conditions:
The parent in question is a participant in the Icelandic labour market at the time of birth, first adoption or permanent foster care. A contract of employment must be sent confirming when the work began in Iceland.
The applicant began working on the Icelandic labour market within 10 working days of leaving the other EEA country.
Annual leave or other leave according to law, a collective agreement or an employment contract, even though it may be partly or entirely unpaid.
If an employee has been on unpaid leave, a copy of an employment contract and agreement with the employer has to be submitted.
The time during which a parent receives unemployment benefit payments, is on a suspension period for such payments, or would have been entitled to them if the parent had registered as being unemployed.
The Directorate of Labour’s payment office assesses whether parents would have been entitled to unemployment benefits if they would have applied for them.
The period during which a parent receives payments in a leave of grief or would have been entitled to such payments had the parent applied for them at the Directorate of Labour.
The time during which a parent receives per diem payments for illness and accident injury, or is waiting period for per diem payments or would have been entitled to them if they had applied to the Icelandic Health Insurance, or receives payments from a union’s sickness fund, providing that the parent stopped work for health reasons.
Icelandic Health Insurance assesses whether parents would have been entitled to payments if they would have applied for them. A copy of the assessment must be submitted.
The time during which a parent receives wage-related payments under Section III of the Act on Payments to Parents of Chronically Ill or Severely Disabled Children, or would have been entitled to such payments if they had applied for them from The Social Insurance Administration.
The Social Insurance Administration assesses whether parents would have been entitled to payments if they would have applied for them. A copy of the assessment must be submitted.
The time during which a parent receives compensation from an insurance company in lieu of wages due to temporary loss of employment resulting from an accident.
Longer leave
In the following cases, the right of parents to maternity and paternity leave is increased.
For each child born alive after 22 weeks of pregnancy, the parents’ joint entitlement to a maternity and paternity leave is extended by 3 months.
The same applies for primary adoption or permanent care of each additional child at the same time.
If the safety and health of a pregnant parent is endangered according to a special assessment, an employer can not ensure their safety and the parent is therefore granted leave of absence from work, the parent may be entitled to longer leave for that time.
The employer must have already tried to change the working conditions or reschedule temporarily or given the pregnant parent other projects. If that is not possible, or attempts have fallen short, the employee can apply for a longer leave.
Documents to be submitted
A certificate and an employer’s reasoning for giving a pregnant parent a leave of absence due to safety and health issues in workplaces.
Copy of employment contract.
Should it become necessary for a pregnant parent to cease paid employment due to health reasons relating to the pregnancy, more than a month before the expected date of delivery, they can be entitled to a longer leave for that time, although never for more than 2 months.
This also applies when a pregnant parent has to withdraw from participation in the labour market according to rights to unemployment benefits.
Health reasons refer to:
Illnesses arising due to the pregnancy and causing incapacity to work.
Illnesses, temporary or prolonged, which worsen during pregnancy and cause incapacity to work.
Preventative treatment to prevent premature birth or to protect fetal health and development in which case the treatment causes incapacity to work.
Documents to be submitted
Medical certificate due to mother’s illness.
Employment termination certificate due to illness of mother during pregnancy.
Should a pregnant parent become seriously ill after birth, as a consequence of the birth itself, and for that reason become unable to take care of the child during maternity and paternity leave, at the opinion of a specialist, they are entitled to an extended leave for up to 2 months.
Necessary documents
Medical certificate.
Parents are permitted to extend their joint entitlement to a maternity and paternity leave for up to 7 months in the case of a child's serious illness or a severe disability where greater care is required of the parent.
Necessary documents
A certificate relating to a child’s serious illness or disability.
One parent receives up to 12 months of leave
In the following cases, the right of one parent to maternity and paternity leave is increased.
Single parent
A single parent who has undergone artificial insemination or a single parent who has primarily adopted a child or taken a child into permanent foster care, is entitled to maternity and paternity leave for 12 months.
Necessary documents
Confirmation that a parent has undergone artificial insemination, adopted a child or taken a child into permanent foster care.
Unable to confirm paternity
A parent who has given birth to a child earns an entitlement to a maternity leave for up to 12 months when the parent is not able to fulfill the duty of confirming the paternity of the child.
Necessary documents
The conclusion of a paternity case from a District Commissioner’s office or the courts.
If a child's parent dies before the child is 24 months old, their unused rights can be transferred to the surviving parent.
In the case of a primary adoption or a permanent foster care the limit is 24 months after the child enters the home.
If a parent is not entitled to a maternity and paternity leave or a maternity and paternity grant in Iceland, or has an independent right to a leave or grant in another country, the other parent can earn the right to maternity and paternity leave for up to 12 months.
If the other parent has a right in another country, that entitlement period is deducted.
Necessary documents
Confirmation of an entitlement/no entitlement from the country where the parent could have earned an entitlement.
Birth certificate where the person is confirmed to be the child’s parent.
If a parent is unable to take care of their child due to illness or the consequences of an accident during the first 24 months after birth, they are permitted to transfer their unused rights to maternity and paternity leave to the other parent.
In the case of primary adoption or a permanent foster care the limit is 24 months after the child enters the home.
Necessary documents
The parent’s condition shall be confirmed with a medical certificate from the specialist who takes care of the parent.
If a parent is unable to take care of their child on account of imprisonment the first 24 months after birth, they are permitted to transfer their unused rights to a maternity and paternity leave to the other parent. In the case of a primary adoption or a permanent foster care the limit is 24 months after the child enters the home.
Necessary documents
Confirmation from the prison authorities that the parent will be serving a sentence during the aforementioned period.
If a parent must stay away from their child, or the other parent, due to a restraining order, and/or expulsion from the home and is therefore unable to care of their child during the first 24 months after birth, the rights to the unused maternity and paternity leave is transferred to the other parent.
Necessary documents
A confirmation from a police commissioner or courts in the case of a restraining order or expulsion.
If it is apparent that a parent without custody will not:
take care of their child in the first 24 months after birth, or from when a child enters the home after primary adoption or permanent foster care,
will not visit the child due to a decision by a legal authority or courts,
the unused rights of the parent without custody can be transferred to the other parent.
The same applies if visitation rights of the parent without custody are very limited, for instance by being under surveillance on the basis of a decision by an authority or courts.
Necessary documents
A confirmation from The District Commissioner of the parent’s full and undivided custody,
a confirmation that the parent without custody does not have visitation rights on the basis of a decision by The District Commissioner,
or confirmation of very limited visitation rights from The District Commissioner or courts.
Parents who do not have custody
Parents without custody may use their right to maternity and paternity leave.
A parent without custody must obtain the consent of the parent who is in charge of the child that it has contact with the child during the period of parental leave.
If parents are not married or registered as cohabitants, the child must be fathered, that is, a paternity recognition must be made and a birth certificate must be issued by Registers Iceland.
Recognition of paternity can be done at Registers Iceland, the District Commissioner's office, or by a judge in a paternity court case.
If the parents of a child are married or registered as cohabiting partners at the time of the birth of the child, the parents have joint custody.
If the child-bearing parent is not married, or not registered as a partner at the time of the birth of the child, they will be solely responsible for the child's custody.
Rights suspended
The right to parental leave is suspended:
when a child becomes two years old or two years after the child entered the home for primary adoption or permanent foster care.
in the event of the death of a child. Parents may have rights to leave of grief.
from the date the parent leaves the child for adoption or foster care. In these cases, the biological parents of the child may have the same right to a two-month maternity and paternity leave after the birth of the child.
