Hospice care For the first time, family care is becoming a ground for absence from work

The new parental leave would entitle to five days of unpaid leave.

To the terminally ill Participation in the care of a relative is becoming a ground for absence from work registered for the first time when the right to parental leave is being added to the Employment Contracts Act.

Short-term leave could also be taken, for example, to use a loved one in a doctor or to arrange care for a relative who has been discharged from a hospital.

The new leave should be taken five days a year, and no pay would be paid for the time off. Holidays could also be taken on individual days.

The reform submitted for consultation is based on an EU directive. The goal is for family care leave to be introduced in August next year.

“So far, it is difficult to say how much parental leave would be used and what the effects would be,” says the specialist. Johanna Ylitepsa from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

Despite its name, the leave would be aimed at non-carers. The leave could be used to help one’s own parents, children and spouse, as well as relatives living in the same household as the spouse’s children.

This would be a so-called subjective right, ie the employer would have to agree to it as long as the conditions of the leave are met: the relative’s ability to function has been significantly reduced due to a serious illness or injury and the relative needs significant assistance or support.

“The conditions are relatively strict,” Ylitepsa describes.

The employer should be informed of the leave and its duration as soon as possible and a reliable statement of the need for the leave should be provided upon request. For example, no medical certificate of the relative’s condition would be required.

Already the current Employment Contracts Act states that an employee has the right to temporary absence from work if it is necessary due to a sudden illness or accident affecting a family member.

In addition, if the employee’s absence is necessary for the special care of a member of his family or another person close to him, the employer must endeavor to arrange the work so that the employee can be temporarily absent from work. The employer and the employee agree on the duration of the leave and other arrangements.

In addition, the Employment Contracts Act provides for temporary care leave in the event of a sudden illness of a child.

Collective agreements also contain various provisions on leave-related leave. For example, if a family member suddenly becomes seriously ill or has a serious accident, the employee may be entitled to either paid or unpaid absence for 1-2 days, depending on the contract. In some sectors, the employee and the employer may also agree on an unpaid absence for a week.

Unpaid vacancies are also agreed directly in the workplace. Finnish Entrepreneurs by the end of 2020, surveyed the views of both employees and entrepreneurs on flexicurity and the reconciliation of work and private life. Half of those in employment had received unpaid leave if they so wished. Seven percent said they hadn’t gotten the leave they wanted.

Less than a third of unpaid leave was related to the provision of assistance to a child, spouse or parent by the employed. The need for care or support for a sick relative was the fourth most common reason at 17 percent.

“Free arrangements are made flexibly in the workplace by agreement. Subjective rights to additional flexibility do not seem necessary, ”the organization concluded.

Employment Contracts Act little use has been made of unpaid leave to care for a family member. Since the new family care leave would also be unpaid, many would probably continue to use various paid leave, such as balance leave, holidays or flexible working hours, Ylitepsa compares.

In any case, different participation in the care and support of a relative is common, and as the population ages, the need for care only increases.

An estimated one-third of working-age people, or 750,000, help their relatives in some way.

According to a survey on working conditions a couple of years ago, 18 per cent of wage earners went to help people outside their own household on a weekly basis, most often their own or their spouse’s parents.

“Given the large number of employees caring for their relatives in some way, the aging of the population and the increase in the retirement age, it can be assumed that the use of parental leave will become more common over time, also as attitudes become more acceptable. On the other hand, unpaid family care leave significantly limits the scope of its use, ”the bill estimates.

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source https://pledgetimes.com/hospice-care-for-the-first-time-family-care-is-becoming-a-ground-for-absence-from-work/