Apply for parental leave
This is how it works
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During parental leave you can devote yourself entirely to your child. We reveal how you can apply for parental leave. What should you pay attention to?
Parental leave is a kind of unpaid professional leavethat you can use to raise and care for your child. Whether father or mother – each parent can apply for three years of parental leave for each child. In order to be able to apply for parental leave, the applicant parent must live with the child in a common household in Germany or at least spend the majority of the year in Germany.
Applying for parental leave: This form is mandatory
Parental leave can earliest with the birth of the child or start as a mother after maternity leave. It ends at the latest on the day before your child turns 8 years old. Parental leave is a legal right that your employer must approve. For this, however, a written Application needed. So it is not enough to just verbally inform the boss about your planned parental leave, even if there are very flat hierarchies in the company.
You should print out the written application and send it signed to your employer or hand the letter in at the company. By the way, you don’t have to worry too much – parental leave is stipulated by law. So you will not get a rejection from your employer because the application was not formulated well enough. The following elements should occur if you want to apply for parental leave:
your address and the address of the company
A suitable subject, e.g. “Request for parental leave”
the date the application was written
the beginning and the end of your parental leave
the birthday of your child (this is important as parental leave can only be approved for children up to the age of 8)
the planned duration
your original signature
tip: You can find numerous templates for a successful parental leave application on the Internet. It is best to have this confirmed in writing so that you are on the safe side.
Applying for parental leave: this is the right time
Parental leave lasts per child three years. You can split it into two or three sections – it depends on when your child was born. In consultation with your employer, even more divisions are possible.
- three stages: births from July 1st, 2015
- two stages: births before July 1st, 2015
When submitting the application you must have a certain amount Adhere to the deadline. If you want to apply for parental leave, you have to seven weeks do before the planned start. Was your child born before July 1st, 2015 and is between 6 and 8 years old? In this case, the application has to be received even 13 weeks before the planned start of parental leave.
If you want to apply for parental leave, you have to include the State the period of the planned parental leave. If you split it up, however, it is not necessary to mention further parental leave as early as the first parental leave phase. So you can see it keep open. As a mother, for example, you can take one year of parental leave after maternity leave and apply for it in due time. If your child is three years old, you could then, for example, apply for the remaining parental leave again.
by the way: If you want to take parental leave as a mother immediately after maternity leave, the parental leave is reduced by the time of maternity leave. For example, if you as a mother would like to take three years of parental leave after the birth of the child, maternity leave and parental leave together last three years.
More information is available on the website of the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth: bmfsfj.de.
Applying for parental leave: can I continue to work?
Parental leave is fundamental unpaid. Your employer is also not allowed to give you notice during this time. But if you would still like to continue working, you should inform your employer about this. The law regulates that you are up to 30 hours a week are allowed to work if you are on parental leave. What if the boss doesn’t want that? In some cases you even have the right to work part-time if the company meets certain conditions.
These are:
- The employment relationship has existed for over 6 months
- There are at least 15 employees in the company (apprentices or interns do not count)
- You will be able to work part-time for at least two months for at least 15 hours
- The work allows part-time employment (not all work can be done part-time)
By the way: If you want to give up your work, you will get one financial support, which Parental allowance names. Unlike parental leave, you do not have to apply to your employer for parental allowance. In this case, the state pays for an income during parental leave. To do this, you should contact the relevant local office, which you can identify with a quick Google search. You can find more information on how to apply for parental allowance here.
You can also find more information on the subject in the BRIGITTE Community. Have a look!