Parental leave for employees
A father or co-parent may be absent from work for twenty days as an employee. This parental leave does not have to be taken consecutively, but within four months after the birth.
Who is it for?
The following priority rules determine who is entitled to parental leave:
1. The father or co-parent mentioned on the birth certificate.
2. The person who legally cohabits with the mother (a declaration of legal cohabitation has been made at the municipality).
3. The person who has lived with the mother for at least three years before the birth.
Apply for parental leave
Request parental leave from your employer. There is no standard form for this, but you must submit the following documents:
If the father or co-parent named on the birth certificate (point 1 above) applies for parental leave: copy of the extract from the birth certificate.
If another person (points 2 and 3 above) applies for parental leave:
- copy of the extract of the birth certificate;
- extract from the population register;
- declaration of honour, signed by mother and co-parent, confirming that both partners:
- legal cohabitation where the child has his or her main residence;
- cohabiting for at least three uninterrupted years before birth, where the child has his or her principal residence;
- there is no blood relationship that would lead to a prohibition on marriage;
- the legal priority rule is respected.
Apply for your benefit at CM
After approval by the employer, apply for benefits at CM. Deliver the completed application form via this contact form or deposit it in a white CM mailbox.
Provide CM with the information sheet
After you have submitted your application to CM, you will receive an information sheet. Return this completed via the white CM letterbox.
Your employer will receive the request for the salary data directly from CM. CM will always let you know from which employer the data was requested. This way you can check whether this was done correctly.
Benefit
The first three days the salary is retained, paid by the employer. For the remaining days, after the end of the parental leave, you will receive a benefit from CM. This benefit amounts to 82 percent of the capped gross salary.
Important
If you, as a co-parent, also take adoption leave , this leave will be reduced by:
- one week if you took one to five days of parental leave;
- two weeks if you took six to ten days of parental leave;
- three weeks if you took eleven to fifteen days of parental leave;
- four weeks if you took sixteen to twenty days of parental leave.
However, an adoption procedure is only possible if you are not the legal parent of the adopted child. A co-parent who is listed as the legal parent on the birth certificate cannot start an adoption procedure and is therefore not entitled to adoption leave.
The days of parental leave are granted according to your work regime and you must take them accordingly. If you work full days, you will receive 20 full days of parental leave. If you work half days, you will receive 20 half days.
The number of days of parental leave is not extended in the event of the birth of multiple births .
