For working mothers, maternity benefits are paid out if all 3 conditions are fulfilled:
- On the first day of pregnancy and childbirth, or on the day before you leave, you must be working or employed.
- You must have been working for at least 160 hours in the last 4 months before leaving for pregnancy and childbirth holidays.
- During the last 3 to 4 months before the pregnancy and maternity leave, you must have worked at least 40 hours per month (picture below).
In addition, you also have to be with your child everyday, for example, to spend time with the child physically and take care, the child cannot be left for someone else. Udbetaling Danmark automatically receives all information about your work experience, employment and hours worked immediately after the employer calculates and declares your salary. Example: If you go to pregnancy and childbirth leave in July:
If you receive full pay only for a certain period of your pregnancy and childbirth leave, then you should only submit an application for barselsdagpenge if the employer no longer pays the salary for you. If you are paid full salary for all your pregnancy and childbirth leave, then barselsdagpenge doesn’t belong to you. If you do not know exactly which rules apply to your case, please contact your employer or trade union to find out what agreement applies to your case. For more information, click here
Pregnancy and childbirth holiday memo before childbirth
- The employee must warn her employer about when she plans to give birth and when she plans to leave for maternity holidays, at least 3 months before the date of childbirth.
- The future dad must inform the employer that he intends to take parental leave at least 4 weeks in advance.
After childbirth
- If you are already on a pregnancy and maternity leave and receive a salary, your employer has to inform virk.dk/barselsdagpenge about the start of your holiday. Following the employer’s announcement, you will receive a letter to your E-box on how to apply for maternity benefit. It is important to submit your application no later than 8 weeks after the last salary received.
- If you do not receive your salary during pregnancy and maternity leave, your employer must inform Udbetaling Danmark. You will then receive a letter to your E-box with information on how to apply for maternity benefits. It is important to submit your application no later than 8 weeks after the birth.
- Tell your employer when you are going to return to work. This should be done no later than 8 weeks after the birth.
- If you have decided to share 32 weeks of parental leave with your husband, you must report this to Udbetaling Danmark via borger.dk at ” Min Barsel ”.
- If you decide to extend or shorten your vacation, you can report it via borger.dk in the ‘Min barsel’ section. Remember to inform your employer about that.
Review of the maternity holiday process
