Handling Parental Leave, Sick Pay & Vacations in Sweden.

Sigtuna

Managing payroll in Sweden means more than just paying salaries. Employers must also navigate a complex set of rules surrounding parental leave, sick pay, and vacation — each with specific obligations and effects on payroll calculations.

Here’s what every employer should understand.

Parental Leave (Föräldraledighet)

Employees in Sweden have the right to take up to 480 days of parental leave per child. During this period:

  • Most income compensation is paid by Försäkringskassan (Swedish Social Insurance Agency)

  • Employers are still responsible for reporting the leave correctly in payroll

  • Collective agreements may require additional pay or benefits

  • The employee retains their job security and accrues vacation during the leave

It’s important to track the leave period and report it in both time records and payroll to reflect absence, benefits, and vacation accruals correctly.

Sick Leave (Sjuklön)

If an employee becomes ill, the employer is responsible for:

  • Paying sick pay (sjuklön) for the first 14 days, excluding a qualifying day

  • Reporting to Försäkringskassan after day 14 if the employee is still sick

  • Keeping track of sick days and their impact on gross pay, tax, and social contributions

The sick pay rate is usually 80% of regular salary, and it must be calculated precisely and shown clearly on the payslip.

Vacation (Semester)

Swedish employees are entitled to:

  • 25 vacation days per year, minimum

  • Vacation pay, typically 12% of earned salary if paid out monthly

  • Saved days if not used, up to five years

  • Compensation when employment ends for unused vacation

In payroll, vacation pay can be handled in different ways (ongoing, saved, or paid in a lump sum), but all must be tracked properly and shown transparently in payslips and reports.

Key Employer Responsibilities

As an employer, you need to:

  • Keep detailed time records (including all types of leave)

  • Apply correct salary deductions or benefits adjustments

  • Report leave to relevant authorities

  • Calculate accruals (e.g. earned vacation during sick/parental leave)

  • Follow any enhanced rules from collective bargaining agreements

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Forgetting to accrue vacation during parental leave

  • Miscalculating sick pay start and end periods

  • Not updating the payroll system for employees on extended leave

  • Assuming Försäkringskassan handles everything — they don’t

Conclusion: Don’t Let Absence Disrupt Payroll

Parental leave, sick days, and vacations are a normal part of working life — and payroll must handle them all correctly.




Before you click away, let me just leave you with something uniquely Swedish.

This is Sigtuna, Sweden’s oldest town – founded around 980 AD by King Erik Segersäll.
Built beside Lake Mälaren, Sigtuna was a royal center at the turning point between the Viking Age and the Middle Ages.
It’s here, many historians believe, that Sweden first began to take shape as a unified kingdom.

Though Sigtuna never became a capital, it was for a time the only real town in the realm – home to kings, missionaries, and merchants.
Even today, its rune stones, church ruins, and original street layout remain as a window into the country’s first steps toward structure and order.

Sigtuna