Elterngeld (parental leave allowance)
Basiselterngeld (standard parental leave allowance)
You are eligible to receive “Basiselterngeld” for the first twelve months of your child’s life. If both parents take parental leave, the period of funding is extended to a total of 14 months. Parents can take parental leave concurrently or by taking turns.
ElterngeldPlus (extended parental leave allowance)
Parents of children born on or after 1 July 2015 can extend their “Elterngeld” period if both parents continue to work part-time. You can find additional information on the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth website.
Make an appointment for consultation with the Equal Opportunity Representative (for non-academic staff) on planning your replacement for the period of maternity leave, your period of parental leave and your return to the workplace.
Elternzeit (parental leave)
Fathers may begin their period of parental leave as soon as their child is born, mothers after their Mutterschutzfrist (maternity protection period) has ended. Parents may take up to three years of parental leave per child before their child turns eight.
To request parental leave, you will need to have a valid employment contract during this period. If your employment contract ends, your parental leave does too.
You can take parental leave until your child turns eight and may choose to work up to 30 hours a week while doing so.
Parents can choose to take parental leave either concurrently or separately.
Each parent’s right to take parental leave is calculated individually. Download the form for requesting parental leave from the Human Resources page: Erklärung zur Inanspruchnahme der Elternzeit.
Working during a period of parental leave
While on parental leave, you can work up to 30 hours a week. The place responsible for paying your Elterngeld (parental leave allowance) can inform you about how working during the period of parental leave reduces the allowance amount.
Deadlines
A period of parental leave can begin either as soon as a child is born or after the Mutterschutzfrist (maternity protection period) ends. The employee must request his/her parental leave at least seven weeks before it is scheduled to begin.
This means that a mother must request parental leave during the first week after her child is born, in order to take parental leave immediately after the Mutterschutzfrist (maternity protection period). Fathers will need to request parental leave seven weeks before the projected date of birth in order to take their leave once their child is born.
Parents may not be fired (Kündigungsschutz) during their entire period of Elternzeit (parental leave). The existing employment contract remains in place.
Holiday entitlement
Holiday entitlement is calculated on the basis of the months worked during the calendar year. Even partial months are counted as full months. For example, if a parent takes parental leave from mid-June to mid-August, his/her holiday entitlement for the year will only be reduced by the amount he/she would have earned during July (a reduction of 1/12 of the annual holiday entitlement).
Reducing your working hours
After your period of parental leave ends, you can return with reduced working hours, for example, to work part-time for a period. Part-time work can take a number of forms, not just working 50% of a full-time position. You are free to agree to your own individual part-time arrangement.
Contact the LBV and the German pension insurance to calculate the effects of doing so on your pension (amount).