Do I have any benefits from the union when I am on parental leave?

Answer:

Yes, you do. If you are on parental leave during the time you have a work contract at LiU, you get a top-up of your salary, above the parental benefit you get from Försäkringskassan.

You apply to Försäkringskassan for parental benefit and you choose 1-7 days per week (7 days for full benefit if you are on 100 % leave). Regarding LiU, you apply for parental leave and then you get a salary top up. This is thanks to the unions’ collective agreements with the employer. Basically you get almost 80 % of your salary from Försäkringskassan (if full benefit) and 10 % from LiU. You don’t have to apply separately, it should come as long as you applied for parental leave to LiU. Just check your salary specifications from LiU so you see it there.

If you are employed as a ‘doktorand’ or ‘postdoktor’ (as long as your postdoc employment is linked to the central agreement on postdocs), you also have the right to prolongation of your employment for at least the same time as your parental leave, so you can continue your postdoc when you start working again and you don’t lose employment time.

More information through LiU sharepoint: https://liuonline.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet-anstallningsvillkor/SitePages/en/Foraldraledighet.aspx