the parent has worked in Iceland continuously for the last 6 months before the loss of a child,
at least 25 % of the monthly employment rate,
as a worker or self-employed person.
The right shall be established on the date of the parent's loss and shall expire 24 months later.
Legal domicile in Iceland
A parent must have legal domicile in Iceland upon the loss of a child, the death of a child or the death of a foster child. A parent must have had legal domicile in Iceland for the last 12 months before that time.
From 2023
The Act on Grief Leave applies to parents who suffer a child loss, or a stillbirth or miscarriage on or after 1 January 2023. Then the Act on Grief Leave first came into force.
Parents
Parents
Presiding parties
Those who have been parents of the child for more than the last 12 months before the loss of the child.
A step-parent or foster parent who has been registered as cohabiting or married to the child's parent or guardian, or has been with the child in foster care, for more than 12 months before the child's death.
You can send an email to: if you want more information on the right to grief leave.
Paid work
The right to grief leave is created when the parent has:
worked in Iceland continuously for the last 6 months before the loss of a child
at least 25 % of the monthly employment rate.
Apart from traditional work, participation in the labour market includes:
A parent who worked in another EEA state during the aforementioned 6-month period may be entitled to bereavement leave.
Conditions are:
Parent is a participant in the Icelandic labour market at the time of the loss of a child, stillbirth or miscarriage.
Parent began participating in the Icelandic labour market within 10 working days of the termination of employment in the other EEA state.
Please send
The Directorate of Labour must receive an employment contract confirming when work began in the Icelandic labour market. The applicant must also apply for a U1 certificate so that the Directorate can obtain information about insurance periods in other EEA countries.
This also applies to the time when:
the person is subject to consequences for breach of the rules on unemployment insurance;
the person concerned would have been entitled to such benefits had he/she registered as unemployed;
the parent has temporarily stopped seeking employment because of holiday abroad and has not been in employment for more than ten working days from the moment the job search was stopped until the job search has resumed.
The parent's employment rate must have been at least 25 % during the reference period.
The Payment Office of the Directorate of Labour assesses whether a parent would have been entitled to unemployment benefits had he applied for them.
The period during which a parent receives payments from the Maternity/Paternity Leave Fund on the basis of the law on parental and child-child leave, or would have been entitled to such payments had the parent applied for them.
The requirement is that the parent's employment rate during the reference period for the abovementioned payments has been at least 25%.
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.
The condition is that the parent's employment rate during the reference period for the above-mentioned payments was at least 25%.
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. The condition is that the parent's employment rate during the reference period for the above-mentioned payments was at least 25%.
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 condition is that the parent's employment rate during the reference period for the above-mentioned payments was at least 25%.
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 the collective agreement and the definition in the agreement is more taken into account. Parents who are not working or working less than 25% can be entitled to a grief grant.
Own operations
Full-time employment of a parent working in his/her own business is based on the parent having paid monthly local tax and insurance premium on the calculated consideration or salary of a minimum threshold amount of the Directorate of Internal Revenue in the relevant profession or according to the collective agreement.
Other payments
Parents cannot receive the payments of the leave of grief and these payments at the same time:
Maternity leave payments.
Unemployment benefits.
Rehabilitation pension.
Healthcare allowance from the union's sickness fund.
Healthcare allowance from the Social Insurance Administration.
Accident-day allowance from the Social Insurance Administration.
A parent who receives payments under the Act on Payments to Parents of Chronically ill or severely disabled Children cannot in the same period of time exercise his right to payments during the mourning period.
Payments for holiday or retirement.
Payments from other countries for the same child loss, same stillbirth or same miscarriage, for the same period, are deducted from payments in the state of grief.
A parent who receives compensation from an insurance company that replaces compensation for temporary work loss cannot use his right to payments during the grief leave period.
