petition
Lower salary, high hurdles: why we urgently need a reform of child sickness benefits
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Larissa Strohbusch is the mother of two small children. In recent months, like many other parents, she has increasingly struggled with the healthcare system and the receipt of child sickness benefits. That’s why she started a petition and a few ideas about what needs to change.
After the pandemic, homeschooling and the like, last autumn and winter drove families to the brink of despair. One illness followed the next and if the children weren’t sick, the parents were. Queues in front of doctors’ surgeries, overcrowded hospitals and the shortage of medicines have put the icing on the cake. But the next setback follows immediately, namely when the salary ends up in the account. Because in many cases it will be less than before. The culprit is the children’s sickness benefit, because that amounts to only 90 percent of the net salary for those with statutory health insurance. But that should change now, at least if Larissa’s petition is successful.
“Mom, I’m not feeling so well.”
Parents know it: The child crawls out of bed in the morning and we can hear the snotty nose rattling from afar. What then follows: weighing up how bad it really is. Can the offspring go to school or daycare in the hope that things will come together again, or does someone have to report child illness now? It would often be necessary, but at the same time it might just open Pandora’s box.
Picking up sick leave: Once all the germs to take away, please
In order to apply for child sickness benefit, most employers have to submit a child sickness report for a sick child from the very first day. Pure stress for parents:
“In the last three years I’ve noticed that we don’t use the children’s sick pay at all because the hurdles are so high. Just that you have to go to the doctor with every cough or elevated temperature, who are already totally overwhelmed. to come home with Corona or hand-mouth-foot in the end. I don’t go to the doctor for that and many doctors certainly don’t want to because it’s usually unnecessary,” says Larissa Strohbusch.
Conversely, this means that parents, since home office has been possible in many places, no longer take sick days for their child, but work and look after their sick child at the same time if no other care is possible. On the one hand, this has many advantages, on the other hand, it is a new, additional burden for parents, especially if there is no relief from grandparents, friends and other family members. In most cases, this does neither justice to the child nor to the gainful employment. In addition, not all parents can work from home. So you have no choice but to go to the pediatrician’s practice or, against your better judgment, to send the child to school or daycare.
“Of course, a ten percent drop in salary isn’t much for many people at first, but it is for some.”
What many parents are not aware of: Child sick pay is 90 percent the net salary. At first glance, that doesn’t sound all that wrong. However, only if you have a corresponding salary. Larissa sees that too: “Of course we are also privileged. There are two of us working from home, we can divide up childcare and, above all, we can cope well with the ten percent loss of salary. But how do parents who cannot work from home and with their salaries do it? barely make ends meet anyway or are single parents?”. Therefore, she demands full salary for those who cannot afford to forgo the ten percent. “Currently it’s even the other way around. Those who receive a one-off payment (Christmas bonus, vacation pay, bonuses, etc.) from their employer receive 100 percent in the event of a child’s illness. So there should be compensation for those who are already disadvantaged. ” What many also often do not have on the screen: The receipt of child sickness benefits affects the pension. Since most mothers still stay at home when the child is ill, thus receiving less salary and paying into the pension fund, this also fuels the gender pay gap.
Children’s sick pay for parents with statutory health insurance – this currently applies:
- The Corona exception rule still applies: Child sick pay can be applied for for 30 working days (single parents 60 working days) for each child with statutory health insurance. If there are several children, each parent is entitled to no more than 65 working days, for single parents no more than 130 working days. It is questionable how long this will remain so. Before the pandemic, each parent was only entitled to ten days per child.
- Child sickness benefit is usually 90 percent of the lost net wages.
- There is child sickness benefit for every legally insured child up to twelve years. There is no age limit for children with disabilities who need help.
at Officials: inside it looks bleaker. Depending on the federal state, they are only granted four to ten child sick days per child. This then leads to teachers taking their sick child to school with them. Beautiful for no one.
Reforming child benefit: This is what the petition calls for
- the Access to child sickness benefit must be made easier: Child sick leave, for example, only from day 3, also to relieve the health system
- Extension of child sickness benefit up to 14 years of age
- full salary especially for low-income earners
- One solution for parents with chronically ill or seriously ill children
The petition now has over 43,000 votes and hits a nerve. Above all, because parents have already been at the limit with their strength for the last few years. “On the one hand, this has increased due to the pandemic, on the other hand, parents are increasingly unsure about sending their children to school, daycare or to grandma and grandpa with a cold, but also about going to the doctor and catching something else . Especially since you are worried about what will happen if it gets bad. There are no hospital beds or medication,” says Strohbusch. Overall, the impression is created that children are little machines. If they don’t work, bad luck. That’s why Larissa would like, above all, that children are perceived as human beings just like adults: “They always have to adapt to their parents’ job. It can’t be that either.”
If you still want to sign the petition, you can do so at campaign do.
This article originally appeared in ELTERN.