Maternity and parental leave

The law considers maternity and parental leave significant personal obstacles preventing employees from performing their job. The important thing is that they are considered time spent working!

Maternity leave

Maternity leave is intended exclusively for economically active persons who have lost their income due to pregnancy, childbirth and subsequent child care.

Maternity leave lasts 28 weeks and starts 8 to 6 weeks before a planned childbirth. Only if you have two or more children at once, maternity leave takes 37 weeks.

Maternity leave accompanying childbirth may not be shorter than 14 weeks and may not end or be interrupted earlier than 6 weeks after the date of the childbirth.

For the entire duration of your maternity leave, the employer is obliged to keep your job position vacant. Once you return to work, the employee has a duty to give you the same job at the same workplace. Only if this is not possible (for example because your branch of the company was shut down), the employer must find another position for you corresponding to the agreed type of work defined in your contract.

Financial maternity benefit is provided to you on maternity leave. It is paid out through benefits from the sick pay insurance system. The exact rate is defined by law; currently, it is 70% of your reduced daily uniform rate per calendar day. The specific amount is always calculated by the Social Security District Administration office (Okresní správa sociálního zabezpečení) of the district where your employer is registered; the same office will be also paying the benefit.

You will receive the financial maternity benefit if you meet two conditions:

• on the day when your maternity leave starts, you are in a legitimate employment relationship and participate in sick pay insurance (or when your maternity leave starts in a protected period – see below); and
• in the last two years prior to that date, you had been paying sick pay insurance for at least 270 days.

If you are self-employed (OSVČ), you must be taking part in health insurance as a self-employed person for at least 180 calendar days in the last year before the support period starts.

If your insured employment ended during your pregnancy, you are in a “protected period” in which you are entitled to the maternity benefit; this period lasts for as many calendar days as your last employment, but for no longer than 180 days.

The application for the benefit, which is typically filled out by your doctor, must be given to your employer. The employer will then send it to the competent Social Security District Administration office. You will receive a written notification stating that you will be receiving the benefit, for how long and in what amount. If you disagree with the amount, you may request a review of your case from the Social Security Administration; this review will be concluded by issuing a decision that you may lodge an appeal against.

You may start drawing the benefit for 7 more days after your employment ends (in a protected period).

Unemployed women are not entitled to the benefit and typically receive a parental benefit.

It is possible to alternate child care with your husband or the child’s father. But you have to sign a written agreement about it.

In this case, each of you is entitled to be paid part of the financial maternity benefit. Alternating child care is possible from the beginning of the 7th week after the date of birth, and you can alternate as often as you like. For men, however, there is another condition stating that they must be taking care of the child for at least 7 consecutive calendar days.

Parental leave

According to the law, the purpose of parental leave is to help you take care of your child. Parental leave can start after maternity leave and may not last longer than until the child reaches the age of 3 years. The employer is obliged to find a job position for you after you return from parental leave, but it does not have to be the same job as before. You are only entitled to a position corresponding to the form of work agreed in your employment contract.

If you want to remain on parental leave until the child is 4 years old, you have to first reach an agreement about this with your employer.

The child’s father may start his parental leave immediately after the child is born. The father does not have to be your husband, but he must be identified on the child’s birth certificate.

At any time, only one parent may be on parental leave, and never both at once!

If you do not meet the conditions for maternity leave and the financial maternity benefit, you may start your parental leave immediately after childbirth and apply for the parental benefit.

Parental benefit is provided by the social security system and can be received for example during your parental leave. It is paid regardless of your income. It may not, however, exceed 70% of your previous earnings or CZK 11,500 per month.

If you meet all legal requirements, you may choose to receive this benefit over the course of two, three or four years.

Those who choose a higher benefit will finish drawing it sooner.

For some foreigners, the law requires you to stay in the Czech Republic for an uninterrupted period of one year.

This period of 365 days in the country’s territory, however, does not include a period in which the person is applying for international protection and staying in a residential facility of the Ministry of Interior. It is only possible to receive the benefit if the person in question and those assessed in relation to this person have a registered permanent residency (citizens) or permanent residency (foreigners) in the Czech Republic and live there.

If the failure to meet the condition of an uninterrupted stay were to have very serious consequences, the regional office corresponding to the place of residence of the person may in justified cases grant an exception from this rule.

Citizens of the European Union are also entitled persons.

The period for which you receive the parental benefit does not have to correspond to your parental leave! Any parent who is taking care for the youngest child in a family under the age of 4, if it is in person, full-time and for an entire calendar month, is entitled to the parental benefit. The condition of taking care for a full calendar month is however considered met even when it technically is not, for example in the following situations:

• a child under 2 years of age attends a nursery or a similar facility for a maximum of 46 hours per calendar month;
• a child under 2 years of age regularly attends a medical/rehabilitation facility, kindergarten or a kindergarten class for children with disabilities, or nurseries providing specialised care for children with sight, hearing or speech impairments or with physical or mental disabilities, for no more than 4 hours per day;
• a child with a long-term disability or a child under 2 years of age with a severe disability regularly attends a pre-school facility for no more than 6 hours per day;
• a child whose sole parent or both parents are dependent on the assistance of another person, may attend a nursery, kindergarten or similar pre-school facility for no more than 4 hours per day;
• a child over 2 years of age attends a kindergarten or a similar facility without limitations.

It is important to know that the parent’s earnings are not monitored, which means that you can work or earn money on the side while receiving the parental benefit.

In this case, however, the child must be cared for by another adult (grandmother, nanny etc.).

As a parent, you can choose the amount and with it also the period in which you’ll be receiving the parental benefit:

• quicker drawdown – provided until the child reaches the age of 2 at a maximum rate of CZK 11,500 per month. This form can only be requested by parents who are entitled to the financial maternity benefit;
• classic drawdown – provided in the default amount of CZK 7,600 per month for 31 months; this form can only be requested by parents who are entitled to the financial maternity benefit;
• slower drawdown – provided also to parents who were not entitled to the financial maternity benefit; the paid amount is the default rate (CZK 7,600 per month) until the child reaches 9 months of age, and afterwards a reduced rate (CZK 3,800) until the child reaches the age of 48 months. The four-year option of the parental benefit is therefore provided to mothers without sick pay insurance (e.g. unemployed or students) if the father also does not meet the insurance condition.

You need to apply for the benefit with the period and amount you have selected in writing at the social department of your regional branch of the Czech Labour Office (Úřad práce) corresponding to your place of residence. The application is written on a special form. The competent office is determined from the parent’s place of residence. At the Labour Office, you have to present an identification document, fill out the application, provide documentation proving your daily uniform rate (e.g. proof of income from your employer) and the child’s birth certificate.

You can change the selected period and amount of the parental benefit every three months if you or the child’s father paid your health insurance premiums. If not, the benefit will be paid out in the slower variant.

If you have another child, your claim to a parental benefit for the older child becomes void, even if you are entitled to a parental benefit for the newborn child immediately after birth at the same amount that until then applied to the older child. You must inform the competent office of this change to ensure the benefit is not overpaid.

If it is possible to claim care benefits (e.g. due to disability) for the youngest child in the family for whom you are entitled to receive parental benefits, you can apply in writing to receive both benefits at once.

Exceptional situations during maternity and parental leave

In the tragic event that the child dies while you are on maternity or parental leave, the leave will last for 2 more weeks after the death of the child, but for no longer than until the day when your child would have reached the age of 1 year.

If for health-related reasons, your child is admitted into care at a residential nursery or another medical facility and you return to work, your maternity/parental leave will be suspended until you take the child back in your care.

There are cases when mothers or fathers stop taking care of their child. In this case, the child is taken away from its parents and provided with foster or institutional care. The parents will be no longer entitled to maternity or parental leave.

Maternity and parental leave are your right, not your duty. The only duty you have is to inform your employer without undue delay when exactly you are going to start your maternity or parental leave.

The period of maternity leave (and the time for which a child’s father is on parental leave while the mother is entitled to maternity leave) is considered time spent working. Parental leave, however, is not considered time spent working.

Mothers who finish drawing their parental benefit before the end of their parental leave will not receive any other benefit during the leave. For the remainder of their parental leave, however, they do not have to pay health or social insurance. Health insurance will be paid by the state. Personal care for a child under 4 years of age is considered a special period in terms of insurance during which insurance premiums are not paid, but the time is still taken into account in the calculation of pensions.

If mothers decide to take care of their child for even longer, insurance is again paid by the state – specifically, until 7 years of age for mothers with one child, and until 15 years of age for mothers with more children. You have to notify the competent social administration office of this fact by filling out an application; you also have to apply at your health insurance company if you want the state to pay your premiums.

The same rights of course apply to fathers who are taking care of children.