Mother

Time off before the birth

You have a legal right to six weeks of time off with pay from the beginning of the last six weeks prior to the estimated date of delivery. Your due date is included in your time off before the birth. By agreement with your manager, you have the option of working part-time during this period.

If the birth takes place earlier than the estimated date of delivery, your period of leave with pay before the birth will be shorter than six weeks. Your leave before the birth will be longer than six week if the birth takes place later than the estimated date of delivery. 

If you don’t take all six week of leave, you cannot defer the remaining weeks/days until after the birth. 

Leave after the birth: an overview

After the birth, you have a right to a total of 24 weeks of leave. The 24 weeks are divided up in the following way:

• Ten weeks of time off
  • The first two weeks of time off after the birth are earmarked for you as the mother in connection with the birth
  • The remaining eight weeks (weeks 3-10) can be transferred to the father/non-birth mother.
• 14 weeks of time off
  • The first nine weeks of time off after the tenth week after the birth are earmarked for you as the mother, and must be taken before the child’s first birthday. If you do not take these earmarked weeks of leave, you will lose your right to parental leave benefits and thus also your right to paid leave.
  • The remaining five weeks of time off after the tenth week after the birth can be transferred/deferred. Any transferred weeks must be taken before the child’s first birthday. Any deferred weeks must be taken before the child’s ninth birthday.

You have a legal right to paid time off between 20-26 weeks after the birth. The amount of time off depends on whether the other parent is also covered by the state-sector parental leave agreement.

Paid leave after the birth: your rights

• Six weeks of time off with pay before the estimated date of delivery
• Ten weeks of time off with pay immediately following the birth 
• Ten weeks of time off with pay after the tenth week after the birth
• Six weeks of additional time off with pay that can be shared with the father/non-birth mother

The first ten weeks after the birth

You have a right to time off with pay for the first ten weeks after the birth. The ten weeks are calculated starting on the day after the child’s birth. You must take the first two weeks of leave. You can transfer the remaining eight weeks to the father/non-birth mother.

You and the father/non-birth mother can take this leave at the same time, one after the other or in turns.

After the first ten weeks after the birth

You have the right to 32 weeks of time off after the first ten weeks after the birth have passed. You are entitled to a certain number of weeks of time off with pay after the tenth week after the child’s birth, as well as a certain number of weeks without pay. The paid leave must always be taken first.

You are entitled by law to pay for ten of the 32 weeks of time off after the tenth week. In addition, you have the right to an additional six weeks of paid leave after the tenth week. However, if the other parent is also employed in the state sector, you may only receive a combined total of six weeks of paid leave. In such cases, you can freely decide how you divide the six weeks of paid leave between you.

If the child’s father/non-birth mother is not covered by the state-sector parental leave agreement, you are eligible to receive 16 weeks of pay during the period after the tenth week after the birth.

You only have the right to take paid leave during these periods (weeks 1-10 and weeks 10+ after the birth) if you also have the right to receive parental leave benefits. Your right to paid leave under the parental leave agreement is conditional on your employer being able to obtain a full reimbursement of your parental leave benefits from the municipality. 

As a mother, you are entitled to up to 26 weeks of paid leave after the child’s birth if you also take the six weeks of paid leave that can be divided between the parents. As you only have a right to parental leave benefits for 24 weeks, situations may arise in which AU is unable to receive the reimbursement for parental leave benefits in the 25th and 26th weeks of leave with pay which is normally a condition for pay during parental leave.

The solution is for the father/non-birth mother to transfer two weeks of leave with parental leave benefits to you, which means you will have a right to full pay for all 26 weeks. If these weeks of parental leave benefits are not transferred, you will receive a reduced salary equal to the difference between the parental leave allowance and your normal salary.

Flexibility in planning your leave:

Deferred time off (up to five weeks)

If you do not wish to take all of your leave before the child’s first birthday, you are entitled to defer up to five weeks of leave to be taken before the child’s ninth birthday. You must take all of your deferred leave at once. You must inform the university that you intend to take deferred leave eight weeks before you go on leave: fill out and submit parental leave form 3.

Whether you are entitled to paid leave in this situation depends on whether you have already taken your paid leave or not. Please note that you are only entitled to take your deferred leave with pay if you are still employed by AU at the time when you take your leave. Leave with pay is on condition that you meet the applicable employment requirements with regard to parental leave benefits.

If you leave AU and take a new job, you will retain your right to time off but not your right to pay during your time off. 

Deferred time off by agreement (more than five weeks)

By agreement with your manager, you also have the option to defer more than five weeks of leave to be taken later on, by agreement with your manager. Your right to take your deferred leave is conditional on your employment at AU. You must inform the university that you intend to take deferred leave 16 weeks before you go on leave: fill out and submit parental leave form 3.

You must take your deferred time off before the child’s ninth birthday. You don’t have to take all of your leave at once.

You can also combine the two models for deferred time off.

Example: You wish to defer seven weeks of leave to take later. Two of these weeks can be deferred by agreement. Whether you are entitled to paid leave in this situation depends on whether you have already taken your paid leave or not. Please note that you are only entitled to take your deferred leave with pay if you are still employed by AU at the time when you take your leave. Leave with pay is on condition that you meet the applicable employment requirements with regard to parental leave benefits.

Partial resumption of work

Subject to agreement with your manager, you have the option of resuming work fully or partially with or without an extension of your leave. If you resume work on a part-time basis, you must submit the parental leave form together with your manager’s approval by mail to HR or to the PhD administration team (if you are a PhD student). 
 

Extension of time off after the tenth week after the birth

You have the option to extend your time off after the tenth week from 32 weeks to either 40 or 46 weeks. This extended leave is without pay. If you decide to extend your leave, the extra weeks must be taken all at once.

Deadlines for notifying AU

No later than three months before the estimated date of delivery, you must inform the university when you are planning to start your time off before the birth.

If you wish to transfer any of your leave in weeks 3-10 after the birth to the father/non-birth mother, you must notify HR or your graduate school no later than four weeks before your estimated date of delivery (parental leave form 1).

No later than six weeks after the birth, you must inform the university of how you intend to schedule the rest of your leave, including whether you wish to defer up to five weeks of your time off after the tenth week after the birth (parental leave form 2).

You must inform HR or your graduate school of when you wish to take your deferred leave no later than 8 weeks before this leave begins (parental leave form 3).

Pay during leave:

The right to full pay during your time off is conditional on Aarhus University receiving full reimbursement for parental leave benefits under the the Act on Entitlement to Leave and Benefits in the Event of Childbirth, corresponding to the maximum amount of parental leave benefits in relation to the employee’s level of employment.

The condition regarding full benefit reimbursement does not apply if: 

1. time off from work in connection with pregnancy-related medical examinations
2. ordinary time off before the birth in the sixth and fifth weeks before the estimated date of delivery
3. ordinary time off before the birth from the fourth week before the expected date of delivery and until the birth of the child, if the employee is not entitled to benefits (and thus any reimbursement will not be available to the university) solely because the employee does not meet the employment requirements under the Act on Entitlement to Leave and Benefits in the Event of Childbirth (barselsloven)
4. when an employee has multiple employers
5. lack of entitlement to benefits (and thus any reimbursement will not be available to the university) solely on the grounds of the employee’s long-term stays outside Denmark.

A parent who does not share the same officially registered address as the child at the time of the birth has a legal right to time off with reduced pay corresponding to the difference between the amount of the parental leave allowance and the employee’s normal pay during the weeks of time off after the tenth week, in the event that the employee does not have the right to parental leave benefits.

Employment requirements

You must meet the following conditions:

• You must be employed as of the first day of your leave or the day before.
• You must have worked at least 160 hours within the last four whole months before your leave.
• You must have worked at least 40 hours per month for at least three of the four months.
• In addition, you must also spend time with your child on a daily basis, i.e. in person.

Udbetaling Danmark – the Public Benefits Administration can check your eligibility for parental leave benefits in the online income register to determine whether you meet the employment requirements.    

The employment requirements can be met by other means – see section 27 of the Act on Entitlement to Leave and Benefits in the Event of Childbirth (Barselsloven).


More than one employer

If you receive pay from more than one employer during your maternity/paternity leave, the reimbursement will be split between these employers proportionate to the benefit amount that the individual terms of employment make you entitled to. The total disbursed benefit amount cannot exceed the maximum benefit amount, regardless of whether your total number of working hours amounts to more than full-time employment. You do not lose the right to salary, even though the university in this case will not receive full benefit reimbursement.

If your employment relationships combined exceed full-time employment, and if you start working for one of your other employers during your leave, this may lead to a reduction in the benefit reimbursement amount to the university, resulting in an amount less than the proportionate share of the benefits related to your employment at the university. Your legal right to salary during leave will not be affected by such situations.

However, you are not allowed to start working for a new employer during your leave if this would result in a reduction of the reimbursement amount to the university or if it means that the university will no longer receive reimbursement. In addition, you may not take any other action that would result in the loss of the university’s right to benefit reimbursement under the Act on Entitlement to Leave and Benefits in the Event of Childbirth (barselsloven). This would affect your right to salary during your parental leave.