Manager's responsibility concerning parental leave

Recommendation

• Familiarze yourself with regulations and routines: Read and make sure that concerned employees are familiar with rights and obligations regarding parental leave and relevant checklists.
• Follow up on your responsibility to inform:
  • For the parental leave team to be able to support you in the follow-up of parental leave, make sure to keep them informed about all relevant circumstances.
  • All documents received from employees or NAV in connection with a parental leave must be sent immediately to the parental leave team (e-mail) for follow-up and case processing.

Overview of follow-up

When an employee notifies you about pregnancy/parental leave

• Remind the employee to send a message to the parental leave team (online form) to ensure that the administrative follow-up of the leave will be initiated at the right time.
• Note! The emplyee is not send request for leave of absence in the self-service portal
• Maintain regular contact with the pregnant employee and demonstrate care.
• Investigate any needs for special adaptations to avoid sickness absence.
• Assess with the employee whether the conditions at the workplace may represent a risk to the pregnancy. This is particularly relevant if the pregnant employee has tasks related to laboratories, see the UiO's policy for pregnant women working in laboratories and local procedures in your unit. Discuss possible options for special adaptations and pregnancy benefit (nav.no) (Norwegian).

In cases of pregnancy-related sick leave

• Follow the routines for follow-up of sick-leave (Norwegian).
• Inform your local personnel officer so that an application for exemption from employer liability can be made to NAV.
• Ensure that the self-declaration in section D of the medical certificate is fully completed, see guidelines (pdf) (Norwegian).
• Submit the medical certificate to the Group for Absence and Reimbursement as soon as you have approved it in the self-service portal.
• Regulations:
  • UiO is an inclusive working life (IA) employer (Norwegian). Managers with personnel responsibility are therefore obligated to follow up on employees on sick leave in accordance with special rules (Norwegain).
  • The employer is not entitled to be informed about the diagnosis or other health information, but the employee has a duty to inform about functional ability and thereby contribute identifying special adaptations with regard to work tasks, cf. National Insurance Act Section 8-8 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
  • UiO must claim reimbursement of sick pay from NAV within three months of the first day of absence (including self-certified sick leave). Therefore, pay particular attention to sick leave and follow-up!
  • Up to pay grade 59 the employing unit receives approximately 75 % reimbursement from NAV for salary paid out to employees on sick leave. After this, the differential between reimbursement and salary increases.

12 - 8 weeks before the start of the leave: parental leave meeting

• The parental leave team invites the employee and you to the parental leave meeting to:
  • inform about applicable laws and regulations pertaining to parental leave
  • clarify how the leave will be taken (holiday entitlement, flexible drawing of benefit)
  • draw up a leave agreement between the employee and UiO
  • assist the employee in completing the form for NAV (the parental leave team maintains a copy; the manager need not be present on this last part of the meeting)
• The father/co-mother may request such a meeting before the child is born for help with the planning of parental leave in good time.
• In preparation for this meeting, you should:
  • review the regulations presented on this webpage
  • investigate any need for a replacement of the employee while on parental leave
• On the basis of the leave agreement between the employee and UiO, the parental leave team prepares a binding parental leave letter. Approve the parental leave letter in ePhorte or contact the parental leave team  for further clarification. Subsequent changes are accepted only by exception, see section on change of the leave agreement below.
• Regulations:
  • Right to postponement of parental leave: the National Insurance Act Section 14-11 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian) confers the right to postponement of leave in the following circumstances:
    • use of statutory holiday entitlement
    • full-time work
    • illness (parents or child)
  • Right to graded leave of absence: the Working Environment Act Section 12 (pdf) (arbeidstilsynet.no) stipulates that:
    • graded leave of absence shall be based on an agreement between the employer and the employee
    • the employee’s wishes shall be met unless these result in significant disadvantages for the employer
  • Rules on use of holiday entitlement:
    • The employer has the right to determine holidays, cf. the Holidays Act Section 6 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
    • The employee can decline to use holiday entitlement during the parental leave period with reference to the Holidays Act Section 9 (2) (lovdata.no) (Norwegian) and Holidays Act Section 7 (1) (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
    • The employee can claim 3 weeks of continuous holiday in the period 1 June - 30 September, cf. the Holidays Act Section 7 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
    • Up to 21 statutory days + 10 leave days transferred/taken in advance can be taken per calendar year, cf. the National Insurance Act Section 14-11 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
    • Holidays determined by collective agreement must be transferred in the self-service portal and the entitlement used subsequent to the parental leave.
    • General and public holidays are not statutory holidays, cf. the Holidays Act Section 5 (1) (lovdata.no) (Norwegian), and therefore cannot be used to postpone parental leave, cf. the National Insurance Act Section 14-11 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian).
    • Read more about holidays and parental leave.

In cases of unforeseen events: change of the leave agreement

• The leave agreement between the employee and UiO may only be changed due to unforeseen circumstances that did not exist at the time the agreement was entered. The employee sends an e-mail outlining the desired changes and justification for these to the parental leave team (e-mail).
• The parental leave team promptly contacts you for an assessment of the leave amendment application.
• The employee is invited to a new parental leave meeting. You are invited if deemed necessary.
• If the application for change of leave is approved, the parental leave team draws up a new parental leave letter which you must approve in ePhorte.
• For regulations see section above on the parental leave meeting.

End of leave: transition back to work

• Employees must notify their manager that they will resume their position at the agreed time, i.e. the time stated in the parental leave letter from UiO and the decision by NAV.
• Employees must register their child in the self-service portal. This is a prerequisite for to be able to register absence due to a child or childminder's illness in the self-service portal.
• The wish to resume work at UiO following the end of parental leave with the use of holiday leave entitlement must be agreed with the manager.
• After parental leave, special rules apply to the use of self-certified sick leave:
  • After parental leave employees may not use self-certified sick leave until they have been back at work for at least one month.
  • After receiving 100% unpaid leave for over four weeks employees may not use self-certified sick leave until they have been back at work for at least two months.