Government is still discussing
SAP doesn’t pay fathers any time off after the birth
March 29, 2024, 2:39 p.m
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In the fall, SAP promises to give fathers six weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child. It’s supposed to start last January. Now the software giant is finally rowing back.
The software company SAP will not introduce the several weeks of leave for fathers after the birth of a child that was promised this year. A spokesperson for the group said this upon request. “No, we are no longer planning to implement it,” he explained. As a company with employees in 80 countries, “unfortunately it is not possible to provide an equal global solution at SAP,” the reason given was the reason.
Europe’s largest software company announced in September last year that it would give fathers or partners of mothers six weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child. The exemption should begin in 2024, it was initially said. At the beginning of the year, SAP surprisingly backtracked and pointed to the federal government, which had not yet implemented legal plans for a partner sabbatical. The group therefore wanted to “review” its own plans, said a spokesman in January. Now they are completely off the table.
The federal government’s legal plans to introduce paid time off after the birth of a child for parents who do not enjoy maternity leave are making slow progress. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus has announced several times that she wants to introduce this so-called “family start time” – and thereby implement an agreement from the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP.
Government not yet agreed
There it says about the project, which also became known as “Fathers’ Time Out”: “We will introduce a two-week paid leave of absence for the partner after the birth of a child.” This is intended to give fathers in particular, who are mostly affected, time to look after their mother and support her in her regeneration. Until now, fathers who want to take paid time off after the birth of a child have to either take vacation or go on parental leave and receive parental allowance.
At the beginning of the year, the Family Ministry said that the draft bill on fathers’ time off was still being discussed within the federal government. Upon request, the ministry reiterated this state of affairs at the end of March.