Sweden

Sweden – a pocket guide 119
Sick pay, sickness benefits
and temporary disability pensions
If you are gainfully employed and fall ill, you receive no
benefits for the first day, which is known as the qualifying
day, karensdag. You then receive sick pay, sjuklön, from your
employer for two weeks. You can be absent from work due
to illness for up to a week without consulting a physician.
If you need to be absent longer, you must obtain a medical
certificate, läkarintyg.
If you are ill for more than two weeks, you receive sickness
benefits, sjukpenning, from the Insurance Office. If
your illness prevents you from working full-time but you
can still work part of the day, you may be eligible for quarter,
half or three-quarter sickness benefits. It is up to your
physician to evaluate the extent of your sick-listing.
Unemployed persons receive sickness benefits as of the
day after the qualifying day.
If you fall ill for a longer period, you may be eligible for
a temporary disability allowance, sjukbidrag. Temporary disability
allowances may be granted to people who have a
long-term illness but will probably be able to start working
again later on. A person who will never be able to work
again due to an illness or functional disability may be entitled
to a disability pension, förtidspension.
A special committee, the social insurance committee,
determines who is entitled to temporary disability allowances
and disability pensions.
Parents’ allowance
Parents’ allowance, föräldrapenning, is available to parents
so that they can stay at home with their children for a certain
period. It is paid out over a total of 450 days, which
can be taken out until the child is eight years old. Thirty
days are reserved for the parent who does not take out the
Money