How I apply for paternity benefit?

What is paternity benefit?

Paternity benefit is a new type of maternity benefit, awarded to a father to take care of his child for a maximum period of 2 weeks during the six weeks following the child’s birth.

Am I entitled to paternity benefit?

The father of a child is entitled to paternity benefit if he is:

  • an employee;
  • a self-employed person (SEP) who is compulsorily insured for sickness;
  • a voluntarily insured person (VIP);
  • a person whose entitlement to paternity benefit arises after the end of the sickness insurance within the protection period.

What requirements do I have to meet?

Entitlement to paternity benefit is assessed at the date when the reason for the benefit arises. That date is:

the date from which you apply for the awarding of paternity benefit in the period from the birth of the child and six weeks after the birth of the child (the ‘6-week support period’). This period is extended by the calendar days during which the child was admitted to the institutional care of a medical facility on the health grounds of the child or their mother if the date of admission falls within a period of six weeks after the birth date.

On that date, you must meet the following requirements:

  • you are the person caring for the child;
  • you are insured for sickness or you are in a protection period after the end of your insurance;
  • you have at least 270 days of sickness insurance in the last two years before the date from which you apply for paternity benefit;
  • the fact of whether the child’s mother receives a maternity or parental benefit at the same time is not considered.

The following criteria are counted for these purposes:

  • the period of any previous completed sickness insurance;
  • the period of suspension of the employee’s compulsory sickness insurance due to taking parental leave;
  • the period of suspension of the SEP’s compulsory sickness insurance due to entitlement to parental benefit;
  • a period of an employee’s sickness insurance during which the employee did not have an assessment basis for the payment of sickness insurance contributions on the grounds that they did not earn income is not counted; the exception are periods in which the employee did not have an assessment basis on the grounds that they were exempt from paying sickness insurance contributions (e.g. due to the duration of temporary incapacity for work).
  • if you are an employee:
    • you have not been paid income for work performed, which is considered to be the assessment basis, for the period of paternity benefit (important is the period for which income is paid and whether it is the income for work performed);
    • the payment of sickness insurance contributions by the employer is not monitored;
  • If you are a SEP or a VIP and you have paid sickness insurance contributions on time and at the correct amount (see Requirement of payment of sickness insurance contributions). This requirement does not apply to employees.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you are entitled to maternity benefit under more than one sickness insurances, you must satisfy the conditions listed below for each of them.

Fathers can divide maternity benefit into paternity and maternity benefit

After receiving paternity benefit for two weeks, fathers can also receive maternity benefit.

In principle, the father still has 26 weeks to draw maternity benefit for the same child after receiving paternity benefit (when caring for a newborn child) and may do so until the child’s third year. For fathers, maternity benefit is divided into two parts – a maximum period of 2 weeks within the 6 weeks following the child’s birth (paternity benefit), which the father may receive regardless of whether the mother receives maternity benefit for the same child or parental benefit during that period, and the next, in principle, 26 weeks when caring for one child until the child’s third year.

If the father does not claim paternity benefit, he may, after meeting the statutory requirements, receive maternity benefit for the whole period of 28 weeks (or 31 weeks in the case of a single father, or 37 weeks in the case of caring for two or more newborns), but not earlier than six weeks after the birth, if the mother is no longer receiving maternity allowance for the same child and does not receive a parental allowance from the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

A father of a child who claims entitlement to maternity benefit no earlier than 6 weeks after the birth date shall be entitled to maternity benefit regardless of whether he was entitled to paternity benefit in the previous period.

How do I apply for paternity benefit?

1

You apply for this benefit by submitting an Application for Maternity Benefit for Another Insuree,

which you can obtain as follows:

Please indicate the date from which you are claiming paternity benefit and its payment in Part A.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you are entitled to paternity benefit from more than one sickness insurances (e.g. as an employee and as a SEP), you must submit a separate application for each one of them.

2

Fill in and sign the Insuree Declaration

on the second page of the form

3

If you are an employee, submit the application to the employer

who will fill in and sign the employer’s confirmation.

4

If you are the child’s father

and you request an extension of the 6-week support period by the calendar days during which the child was admitted to the institutional care of a medical facility on the grounds of health condition of the child or their mother (outside standard postnatal care), if the date of admission falls within a period of six weeks after the birth date (i.e. you wish paternity benefit to be paid for that reason also after 6 weeks have passed since the birth); attach the confirmation of the period of hospitalisation of the child or the mother and child (medical report/medical certificate) to the application.

5

Send your application to the Social Security Agency branch

relevant according to:

  • the employer’s registered office if you are an employee;
  • if you are an employee within the protection period, your last employer’s registered office;
  • your place of permanent residence, if you are a SEP or a VIP.

Contacts – branches

 

USEFUL TIP:

We recommend that the other insuree submit their application for maternity benefit as soon as it has been completed (see Limitations).

Paternity benefit is part of maternity benefit, so we recommend that you also read the information in the section: How to apply for maternity benefit.

For more information, please see SICKNESS INSURANCE – MATERNITY BENEFIT.