Special leave

Health and maternity insurance covers several types of special leave.

These mainly concern situations where an employee must interrupt their professional activity to care for a sick child, accompany a relative at the end of their life, or welcome a child as part of an adoption.

These specific types of leave – such as family leave, care leave or adoption leave – are covered by health and maternity insurance, provided that the conditions set out in the legislation are met.

Leave for family reasons

In Luxembourg, an employed parent may take leave for family reasons if their child is ill.

This leave may be requested:

• if the state of health of a child under the age of 18 requires the presence of a parent at their side;
• or if a child under the age of 13 is subject to isolation measures decided or recommended by a competent authority in order to limit the spread of an epidemic.

The length of family leave varies according to the age of the child. For each child and per age group, the parent is entitled to:

• 12 days: from birth to 3 years of age;
• 18 days: from 4 to 12 years of age;
• 5 days: from 13 to 17 years of age, only if the child is hospitalised.

In certain specific cases, the duration of this leave may be extended, in particular when the child:

• has progressive cancer;
• is hospitalised for more than two consecutive weeks;
• is placed in quarantine, in the broad sense, for health reasons.

The maximum extension period is 52 weeks, calculated over a period of 104 weeks.

For children who receive a special supplementary allowance, the duration of leave is doubled and the age limit of 18 years of age does not apply.

End-of-life care leave

Special leave may be granted to care for a relative suffering from a serious terminal illness. When care is shared between several people, the total duration of leave granted is limited and may not exceed a specified maximum. To benefit from this leave, a request must be sent to the CNS, accompanied by a medical certificate and a duly completed form.

The maximum duration of end-of-life care leave is 5 working days, or 40 hours, per relative cared for and per calendar year. This leave may be split up or taken on a part-time basis, subject to agreement with the employer.

Adoption leave

To enable employees to welcome their adopted child in the best possible conditions, the CNS provides 12 weeks of adoption leave.

Adoption leave may be granted if the following conditions are met:

• The adoption procedure is completed jointly with the partner or spouse;
• The adopted child is under 12 years of age;
• The beneficiary is an employee or self-employed person who has completed a mandatory affiliation period of at least six months during the 12 months preceding the adoption leave.