Ending parental leave early: You need to know that
In Germany there is a statutory provision on parental leave, which also regulates termination. We explain everything you need to know in this article.
When you can end your parental leave before it expires
According to Section 15 of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act, you are entitled to parental leave until you are about three years old. An existing employment relationship is a prerequisite for this.
- If you want to end parental leave early and start your full-time job again, you must apply to your employer.
- Paragraph 16 of the Federal Parental Benefits and Parental Leave Act applies here.
- However, if the employer has hired parental leave for the period of parental leave you have requested, he can reject your application if he cannot afford two specialists or if there is not enough work available.
- There are exceptional cases when, for example, the other parent who has still gone to work is seriously ill and you now have to work. Here the employer must allow you full-time again.
- The time that you have not taken, but are allowed to take by law, does not expire if you take parental leave early. You can still start the remaining time later.
Part-time work, if desired, for early termination of parental leave
If your employer has rejected your request for early termination and full employment - provided there is no hardship case - you still have the opportunity to work in your company again.
- You can apply to your employer for part-time work during parental leave.
- The prerequisite for this is that you must have worked in the company for at least 6 months before taking parental leave and that the company has more than 15 employees.
- Here you can apply to work 15 to 30 hours a week - in addition to parental leave.
- In this case, the employer may only reject you as a part-time employee for serious operational reasons.
- After your parental leave has expired, you must then be allowed to work full-time again.
In the next post we will explain to you whether you will receive Christmas bonus during parental leave.