Parental Leave While Unemployed

Six weeks before you go on parental leave (barsel) – or ten weeks before your due date – you may be eligible for an exemption (fritagelse) from job searching and meetings. This means that you will no longer be required to:  

• Attend meetings with us or the job centre. 
• Actively seek employment.  

If you have been unemployed (ledig) for three months and your job search process (jobsøgningsforløb) has been transferred to the job centre, it’s the job centre you need to contact regarding your exemption from job searching and meetings (known as a less intensive effort (mindre intensiv indsats) at the job centre). 

You are, however, obliged to accept any suitable work you are referred to – either by the job centre or us – if they/we have assessed that you can perform the role until you start your parental leave.  

Please note that the exemption from job searching and meetings only applies once we/the job centre have been informed that you are six weeks away from starting your parental leave.  

If your job search process is with us, you can notify us that you are six weeks away from starting your parental leave. 

Notify us when you are six weeks from parental leave 

You must notify us of your pregnancy five weeks before your due date. You can send us a message via Mit AKA or call us directly.

We will then inform Udbetaling Danmark of your pregnancy and the date you commence your parental leave. 

If you remain employed until your parental leave starts, your employer is responsible for reporting the relevant details to Udbetaling Danmark. 

You will subsequently receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark, which you must respond to. 

If your pregnancy causes health issues that require you to take sick leave, please call us. You cannot register pregnancy-related sickness on jobnet.dk. 

After speaking with you, we will pass on the information to Udbetaling Danmark. They will send you a letter to respond to and assess whether you qualify for sickness benefits (sygedagpenge) during your illness. 

Make sure to count your due date as part of the four weeks of pregnancy leave with maternity/paternity benefits you’re entitled to before your child is born. If you miscalculate and deregister from jobnet.dk too early, you will not receive unemployment benefits for the days you deregistered prematurely. 

If you provide us with your due date, we can help you determine the correct day to commence your parental leave. 

If you are unemployed and become a father or co-mother, you are entitled to paternity/co-mother leave with maternity/paternity benefits for the first 14 days following your child’s birth. We will inform Udbetaling Danmark of the date you begin your leave. 

If you are employed full-time, different paternity/co-mother leave rules apply. 

For more guidance on parental leave for the unemployed, see lifeindenmark.dk  

Parental leave is when you receive maternity/paternity benefits to share as parents. 

If one of you is unemployed and you wish to share parental leave, please inform us of the unemployed parent’s first and last days of the parental leave period. 

If you have a child shortly before completing your studies, you are entitled to maternity/paternity benefits from the day you graduate, provided you are eligible for unemployment benefits. You do not need to be registered as unemployed with the job centre to receive maternity/paternity benefits. Call us if you would like more information. 

If you give birth shortly after completing your studies, you are immediately eligible for maternity/paternity benefits. 

Example 

If you complete your studies on 31 January and your expected due date is 14 February, you can immediately transition to parental leave with maternity/paternity benefits covered by the municipality, as you are entitled to leave four weeks before the baby is born. However, if you expect to give birth on 14 March, you will start your parental leave with maternity/paternity benefits on 15 February. 

Remember to join Akademikernes A-kasse within 14 days of completing your studies if you wish to be eligible for unemployment benefits once your parental leave expires. 

Call us if you have any questions about your situation.