Bereavement leave in the case of the loss of a child

Can I go on bereavement leave if I lose a child?

Is your child stillborn after the 22nd week of pregnancy, or have you lost your child before the child has turned 18? Then you may be entitled to bereavement leave.

Bereavement leave applies to both biological parents, co-mothers and adoptive parents. As a stepmother or stepfather of an adopted child, you are not entitled to bereavement leave.

The bereavement leave entitles you to absence from the first day after the child's death and 26 weeks from this time. It is not possible to postpone bereavement leave to a later date.

If you lose a child before the end of the 22nd week of pregnancy, it will be considered a miscarriage and not a stillbirth. If the doctor assesses that the child showed signs of life at birth, and it is therefore a stillbirth, you may still be entitled to bereavement leave.

Bereavement leave for twins, triplets or more than three children

If you have twins, and one of the children is stillborn, both parents are entitled to 26 weeks of bereavement leave, but not the extra 13 weeks of twin leave. 

If you have triplets or more children, and one of the children is stillborn, in addition to 26 weeks' bereavement leave, you are also entitled to the extra 13 weeks' leave. You must take the extra 13 weeks of leave for each parent within 1 year of birth or reception. 

If one of the children dies within the first year after the birth, you are still entitled to the extra 13 weeks of parental leave plus the 26 weeks of bereavement leave in connection with the death of one child. 

If a child dies after the first year, you only get 26 weeks of bereavement leave. 

Am I entitled to unemployment benefits on bereavement leave?

You are entitled to unemployment benefit (dagpenge) during the 26 weeks of bereavement leave, if you meet the employment requirements of the Maternity Leave Act:

• You are employed on the first day of your leave or the day before.
• You have worked for at least 160 hours within the last 4 completed calendar months before the leave.
• You have worked for at least 40 hours per month in at least 3 of the 4 calendar months.

If you are self-employed, you must meet this employment requirement in order to receive bereavement leave:

• You have worked for at least 18.5 hours per week for at least 6 months within the last 12 months.
• You have worked for at least 18.5 hours per week in the past month before going on leave.
• There is a profit in your business.

Read more about the employment requirement at borger.dk

Am I entitled to pay during bereavement leave?

If you are a private sector employee, you are entitled to a salary if this is stated in your contract, staff handbook or local collective agreement. If it is not stated that you are entitled to a full salary during bereavement leave, you are only entitled to parental leave allowance (barselsdagpenge).

If you are employed by the state, municipality or region parents/adopters can receive full salary for up to 26 weeks if the child is stillborn or the parents lose a child under 18.

Can I work in connection with bereavement leave?

You have the option of agreeing with your employer that you can resume work fully or in part during your bereavement leave.

If you resume work during your bereavement leave, you cannot extend your leave by the length of time you have resumed work.

You also cannot postpone the weeks in which you have resumed full-time work to a later date.

Can I go on bereavement leave if I am already on leave?

If you lose your child while you are already on maternity leave, paternity leave or parental leave, you can transfer to bereavement leave.

After the end of the bereavement leave, you can take the remaining maternity, paternity or parental leave.

If you resume leave after taking more than 14 weeks of bereavement leave, it will be parental leave (forældreorlov). Maternity leave and paternity leave must be taken in the first 14 weeks after the birth.

If you are on parental leave with another child, you can postpone the parental leave until a later date, but the leave must be taken before the child turns 9.

How do I notify my employer about bereavement leave?

You must inform your employer immediately that you are taking bereavement leave and how long your bereavement leave lasts.

If you wish to change the length of your bereavement leave, you must again notify your employer immediately.

Are you on parental leave or about to go on parental leave, and have already notified your employer about how you will take parental leave? The notice you have already given will then lapse. This means that you must once again notify your employer immediately about how you want to take leave.

Do you have parental leave that you have not taken for another child, and do you want to take this leave in connection with the expiry of your bereavement leave? Then you must notify your employer no later than 4 weeks before the end of your bereavement leave. If you take bereavement leave of less than 4 weeks, you must give notice of taking parental leave immediately.

Remember to apply for or check your benefits

As a salaried employee, your employer must report your bereavement leave to Udbetaling Danmark, and you will receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark in your e-Box.

If you only receive unemployment benefits during the leave, you will receive information in the letter from Udbetaling Danmark on how to apply for unemployment benefits. You must apply no later than 8 weeks after your first day of leave.

If you receive full salary during your leave, your employer must receive a reimbursement of your unemployment benefits. You will therefore be told in the letter to confirm or correct the employer's information. If your salary ceases during the leave, you must apply for unemployment benefit no later than 8 weeks after your last day of salary.

If you are unemployed, you must inform the unemployment insurance fund (A-kasse) that you are on bereavement leave and are not unemployed.

After this, the unemployment insurance fund reports your leave, and you receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark in your e-Box with information on how to apply for unemployment benefits.

You must apply for unemployment benefits no later than 8 weeks after you have received the letter from Udbetaling Danmark.

If you are self-employed, you must apply for unemployment benefits under bereavement leave in NemRefusion no later than 8 weeks after your first day on leave.

Contact IDA if you have questions

Click here to write to IDA's legal advisers if you have questions about bereavement leave