Childcare - rules for granting leave

Each employee is entitled to two paid days off work during a calendar year to look after a child under 14 years of age. When can an employee take advantage of such a dismissal? Is it payable? Read the article below to find out when and under what conditions childcare is available.

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Caring for a child - rules of granting

Art. 188 of the Labor Code (LC) regulates the possibility of granting leave from work to parents, it is commonly referred to as care for raising a child. This exemption applies to the care of a healthy child up to the age of 14. This means that you do not need to justify your application to the employer. However, in the case of a sick child under the age of 14, the parent is entitled to a care allowance if he has received a sick leave. Art. 188 of the Labor Code
An employee bringing up at least one child under the age of 14 is entitled to a leave of absence for 2 days per year, with the right to remuneration.

Application for custody of a child

In order to obtain days off for childcare, you must submit an application for time off to your employer. However, the decision to grant leave rests with the employer. It is worth remembering that he should not reject the employee's application if there are no valid and objective reasons for it.

Two days of childcare - counted in days or in hours?

An employee is entitled to a 16-hour or 2-day leave related to caring for a child. The two-day layoffs can be used together or separately as there are no limits to the number of layoffs made. This means that an employee can take advantage of, for example, one hour of care. There are also no obstacles for an employee to take advantage of this leave immediately after another absence from work, e.g. after a holiday leave. The amount of the dismissal is granted regardless of the number of children the employee has. In the first application, which was submitted in a given calendar year, the employee specifies whether he wants to take advantage of the dismissal in hours or in days. If he indicates in the first application that he wants to take advantage of the 1st day of sick leave, he will not be able to apply for time off in the next application.

Childcare - who will get extra time off?

It is worth knowing that two days of leave for childcare are granted regardless of the length of service, type of employment contract and the length of the employee's working time. In the case of a person employed part-time, it is granted on an hourly basis and is determined in proportion to the number of working hours. Additionally, half-hours are rounded up to the next full hour. The exemption is granted to the employee in the calendar year in which he acquired the right to it. If an employee has not used the leave for childcare in 2020, he or she loses the right to it in 2021. Contrary to the annual leave, the employee may not demand an equivalent from the employer if the leave is not taken in a given year.

Read more on childcare:
Childcare for a child up to 14 years of age and employment during the year
Childcare days - when are they due?
Sick leave for a sick child - when is it due?

Depriving the parental authority of the parental care provider results in the employee losing the right to use the leave to take care of the child. It is worth knowing that the number of non-working days does not increase when an employee brings up more than one child. The employee will lose the right to days off when the child reaches the age of 14. In the case of employment in different places, an employee in each workplace acquires separate rights to days off for childcare. Parents who are divorced or are in informal relationships are also entitled to be exempt from childcare, but the two-day limit applies to each relationship of the children. As mentioned above, dismissal cannot be granted to an employee deprived of parental authority.

Childcare under Art. 188 of the Labor Code in the wFirma.pl system

The employee retains the right to remuneration for the time of childcare. In the wFirma.pl system, after entering information on such dismissal, the remuneration for this time will be calculated automatically. The absences are entered in the PERSONNEL »EMPLOYEES» Employee details »WORKING TIME» ABSENCES »ADD. In the window for adding absences, select the date and the type of "childcare leave". Child care introduced in this way should be recorded.

After entering the information about the absence in the payroll generated in the system (HR »PAYROLLS» MENU »COLLECTIVE» ADD WAGE LIST), childcare will be included and the remuneration for this time will be counted. Thanks to that, calculating employees' remuneration will be quick and very easy!