Article 28 of the Labor Code establishes the principle of respecting the employee’s family obligations. According to R. Joskaudienė, the employer should not ignore the family situation but help the employee balance work and family, and must provide a reasoned written response to the employee’s requests stipulated by law.
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The kindergarten called during work hours: can the father or mother leave work?
According to the lawyer, yes. Part 3 of Article 137 of the Labor Code states that the employer must grant the employee unpaid leave when the request is related to urgent family reasons due to illness or accident and the employee must participate directly.
“This means that upon receiving notification about a suddenly ill child, the employee can request permission to leave to pick up the child. It is safest to inform the employer in writing – by email, message, or another method established at the workplace. The employee and employer can also agree that this work time will be transferred to another workday or shift, provided that work and rest time requirements are not violated,” explained R. Joskaudienė.
Practical example
A kindergarten representative reports at 12 o’clock that a four-year-old child has a fever. The employee informs the manager in writing that due to an urgent family reason, they must leave to pick up the child. Then they consult a doctor who, after assessing the child’s health condition and care needs, decides on issuing a sick leave certificate.
When a sick leave certificate is issued for child care
According to the lawyer, upon receiving the sick leave certificate, the employee does not ask the employer for permission to care for the child – they inform the employer that they will not be able to work during the period specified in the certificate.
Next:
- the employer must submit the NP-SD2 notification to “Sodra”;
- the employee, if they have not submitted an indefinite request, must submit a request for sickness benefit;
- the benefit can be applied for no later than 12 months after the end of the care period;
- usually, a social insurance sickness record of at least 3 months in the last 12 months or 6 months in the last 24 months is required, although the law provides for certain exceptions.
Who pays for child care?
The lawyer emphasized that it is important not to confuse the employee’s illness with child care.
“When the employee themselves is ill, the employer pays the benefit for the first two days of their incapacity that coincide with the work schedule. However, when caring for a sick child, “Sodra” pays the sickness benefit from the first day of incapacity,” she said.
The benefit amount is 65.94 percent of the compensable wage. This is not the net amount – income tax and mandatory health insurance contributions are deducted from the calculated benefit.
How long can you care for a sick child?
According to the current regulations:
“These are the maximum benefit payment periods. The actual duration of care in each case depends on the child’s health condition and medical care needs,” emphasized R. Joskaudienė.
Not only the mother can care for the child
According to the lawyer, the right to sickness benefit may be held by:
- the child’s mother or father;
- stepmother or stepfather;
- grandmother or grandfather;
- guardian, custodian, or standby guardian;
- in cases provided by law – a person temporarily caring for the child.
According to R. Joskaudienė, entitled persons can care for the child alternately, properly documenting each of their incapacity periods. Thus, according to her, there is no legal rule that the mother must always take the sick leave certificate when the child is ill.
“For example: the father can care for the child during the first week, and later – the insured grandparent with the required social insurance record.
However, if another person has already been granted child care leave for the same child, the benefit is not automatically paid to another caring person. An exception may apply when the person on child care leave cannot care for the child due to their own or another child’s illness or injury,” explained R. Joskaudienė.
Can the employer require working from home?
According to R. Joskaudienė, no, if the employee has a valid sick leave certificate.
During the temporary incapacity period, the employee cannot:
- participate in remote meetings;
- prepare documents;
- respond to work emails;
- “just connect briefly”;
- perform other work functions.
The State Labor Inspectorate (VDI) clearly states that with a valid sick leave certificate, the employee must not work, and violating this duty may result in loss of sickness benefit.
“The employer, in turn, has no right to force the employee to work or refuse the sick leave certificate.
Therefore, a manager’s request: ‘Just join two meetings, you are at home after all’ – is not an innocent compromise. It can have legal consequences for both the employee and the employer,” said R. Joskaudienė.
According to her, the employer also cannot require the employee to write a request for annual or unpaid leave instead of a legally issued care certificate. She emphasized that unpaid leave is not a unilateral decision by the employer – it is granted at the employee’s request and in cases provided by law.
Can an employee be dismissed because their children are often sick?
According to R. Joskaudienė, temporary incapacity or lawful child care cannot be an independent reason for terminating the employment contract.
“However, it is important not to create an impression of absolute ‘immunity.’ The employment contract can end during temporary incapacity on certain grounds provided by law, for example, at the employee’s initiative, by mutual agreement, upon expiration of a fixed-term contract, or due to the employer’s termination. In other cases, when the employee is temporarily incapacitated on the contract end date, Part 6 of Article 65 of the Labor Code provides for postponing the termination date until the end of incapacity,” said the lawyer.
According to her, if the employee is rated worse, denied opportunities, pressured to leave work, or subjected to other negative consequences precisely because they are raising children and using lawful care guarantees, such behavior, depending on specific circumstances and evidence, may be considered a violation of the principle of respecting family obligations, non-discrimination, or other labor law norms.
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What has labor dispute practice shown?
Employees were presented with a pre-prepared request to resign “voluntarily”
Vilnius Labor Dispute Commission (LDC) in decision No. DGKS-3210 of April 30, 2025, examined a situation where an employee was sick for two weeks and then cared for a child for another two weeks. The employer’s representative told the employee that due to frequent sick leaves, it was “not worth keeping her” and presented pre-printed documents for termination of the employment contract at the employee’s initiative.
The LDC found that the employee’s true will was not free, recognized the dismissal as unlawful, and awarded average wages for the forced downtime and 1,000 EUR for non-pecuniary damage.
The commission relied on the Lithuanian Supreme Court rulings of March 19, 2013, in civil case No. 3K-3-174/2013 and October 7, 2014, in civil case No. 3K-3-420/2014. LAT practice emphasizes that the employee’s will to terminate employment must be formed freely, without unlawful employer influence. A signed request alone does not always prove that the employee truly wanted to leave.
The employer did not justify why remote work was impossible
In another case, Vilnius LDC by decision No. DGKS-2957 of April 15, 2025, ordered the employer to allow the employee to work remotely. The employee was raising a child under eight and was pregnant, and the employer did not prove that remote work would cause excessive costs due to production necessity or work organization specifics. The LDC decision was ordered to be executed urgently.
LDC decisions are not universal judicial precedents, but they clearly show: the employer’s convenience alone is not sufficient grounds to deny employee guarantees established by law.
What if there is no sick leave certificate?
According to R. Joskaudienė, not every situation where a child stays home automatically entitles the employee to sickness benefit. If a certificate is not issued, the employee and employer can consider other lawful options:
- remote work;
- flexible or individual working time regime;
- part-time work;
- mother’s or father’s day;
- annual leave;
- unpaid leave;
- transfer of working time to another day or shift.
According to R. Joskaudienė, the employer must satisfy the request to work remotely from an employee raising a child under eight, or an employee single-handedly raising a child under fourteen or a child with a disability under eighteen, unless the employer proves that due to production necessity or work organization specifics, this would cause excessive costs.
“However, it is necessary to remember: remote work is not a vacation and is not care. An employee choosing to work remotely must actually perform all their work functions. At the same time, it is not possible to work and receive sickness benefit for child care,” explained R. Joskaudienė.
Article 137 of the Labor Code also provides that an employee raising a child under fourteen must be granted up to 14 calendar days of unpaid leave at their request, and an employee raising a child with a disability under eighteen – up to 30 calendar days. An employee caring for a sick family member or cohabiting person is granted unpaid leave for the time recommended by the healthcare institution.
What would R. Joskaudienė advise parents?
1. Inform the employer immediately about the need to care for a child and, as much as possible, in writing.
2. Clearly distinguish incapacity from remote work: do not perform work functions if you have a valid certificate.
3. Check whether you have submitted a request to “Sodra” for sickness benefit and whether the employer has submitted the NP-SD2 notification.
4. If the employer asks you to sign resignation documents, do not sign them without evaluating the content and consequences.
5. Save emails, messages, orders, conversation recordings, and other evidence if you experience pressure due to your or your child’s illness.
Labor law violations can be reported to the VDI, and for specific individual claims – for example, unlawful dismissal, unpaid amounts, working conditions, or compensation – to the LDC. Claims for unlawful dismissal must be filed within one month, and for many other labor rights violations – within three months from when the person learned or should have learned about the violation. Dispute resolution at the LDC is free of charge.
Children do not choose when to get sick. And the law does not require parents to choose between a sick child and the workplace. However, rights are most effectively protected when the employee timely informs the employer, properly documents incapacity, and preserves all significant evidence.
Is there a clear procedure at your workplace on what to do when a child is sick, or do you still have to “negotiate” every time?
Legal basis: Articles 26, 28, 40, 52, 65, 113, 137, and 138 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Sickness and Maternity Social Insurance of the Republic of Lithuania, Rules for Issuing Electronic Sick Leave Certificates.
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