Family care time

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The family care leave is intended to give employees the opportunity to combine care and work for a period of up to two years. The law on family care leave (FPflZG) came into force in Germany on January 1, 2012.

Expiry of family care leave

Employees should be able to reduce their working hours to up to 15 hours per week for a maximum of two years if they care for a close relative. At the same time, there should not be a complete loss of earnings. Half of the loss of earnings is taken over by the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks (BAFzA) via an interest-free federal loan and transferred back to the BAFzA by the employer after the end of the family care leave. The following documents must be submitted when applying for the loan (Section 12 FPfZG):

  1. Agreement on family care leave,
  2. Pay slips for the last 12 months,
  3. Proof of the need for care of the close relative,
  4. Certificate of insurance for the employee within the meaning of Section 4 of the Family Care Leave Act.

Accordingly, the employee continues to work for the same period of time that he previously received a higher salary with reduced working hours during the care period, after the care phase with a reduced salary.

Calculation example: A full-time employee reduces his weekly working hours to 50 percent for a calendar year, but receives 75 percent of his previous salary during the care phase. After the care phase, he now works 40 hours a week for a calendar year, but continues to receive 75 percent of his salary.

In order to minimize the risk of occupational disability in the repayment phase, in which the employee is fully employed again, every employee who makes use of the family care leave must take out insurance. The insurance ends on the last day of the wage repayment phase of the family care leave.

Legal framework

Employment Law

The law passed by the Bundestag on December 23, 2014 for a better compatibility of family, care and work gives employees a legal right to family care leave. The employee can claim family care leave from 2015 for a maximum of 24 months. The entitlement to exemption also applies to the care of an underage relatives in need of care.

The family care leave must be claimed in writing, no later than 8 weeks before it begins. The period and extent for which family care leave is to be used must be specified in the application. Likewise, the desired distribution of the reduced working hours. According to the law, employers and employees have to make a written agreement on the reduction and distribution of working hours. In doing so, the employer must comply with the employee's wishes, unless there are urgent operational reasons to the contrary.

In the case of fixed-term employment contracts, the agreement on the care leave may not exceed half of the remaining term of the employment. There is special protection against dismissal for both the family care period and the follow-up care phase. Due to the contribution payments from the reduced salary and the benefits of long-term care insurance during the family care leave, the pension entitlements remain roughly at the level of full employment.

Tax law

The Family Care Leave Act does not contain any regulations on the tax treatment of the various phases of family care leave. Employees who reduce their working time to up to 15 hours for family care leave over a period of up to two years will receive a remuneration increase during the family care leave amounting to half of the difference between the previous wage and the wage resulting from the reduction in working time results (e.g. wage increase to 75% of the last gross income if a full-time employee reduces his working hours to 50%). To compensate for this, the employees will only receive the reduced salary (for example, remuneration of 75% of the last gross income for 100% working hours) after full working hours until the "negative" credit balance is balanced. The amount of the reduced (regular) wages and the employer's wage increase according to § 3 Paragraph 1 Number 1 Letter b FPfZG is taxable wages.

For details, see the administrative instruction of the Federal Ministry of Finance dated May 23, 2012, Az .: IV C 5 - S 1901/11/10005 on the following topics:

  • Reduction of working hours and pay increases during family care leave
  • Follow-up care phase
  • Interest-free loan to the employer
  • Contribution payments to family care leave insurance
  • Family care leave insurance benefits
  • Reimbursements from the employee
  • Premium advantages through a group insurance contract
  • Expiry of the right to compensation

background

According to the Federal Statistical Office , 2.25 million people were dependent on care in 2007. Of these, more than two thirds (1.58 million) were cared for by relatives and outpatient services.

The Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) derives the need for political action from the fact that, according to statistical projections, the number of people in need of care in Germany should increase to around 3.4 million by 2030 and to around 4.5 million by 2050 what would be a doubling. Studies by the BMFSFJ show that 76 percent of employed people want to look after their relatives as much as possible themselves. That is why Federal Minister Kristina Schröder publicly advocated family care leave as early as 2010. With the family care leave, the Christian-liberal coalition would like to support employees in caring for relatives. The coalition of CDU / CSU and FDP passed the relevant law on October 20, 2011.

Frequency of use

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on 28 December 2012, citing a preliminary statistics of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs , that in the first year in which the family care leave could be taken advantage of, only 200 workers had made use of this opportunity.

See also

literature

  • Brigitte Glatzel, Michael Neumann: The new family care leave law . In: New legal weekly . No. 17 , 2012, p. 1175 ff .
  • Wukfhard Göttling, Michael Neumann: The new family care leave law . In: New journal for labor law . No. 3 , 2012, p. 119 ff .

credentials

  1. ^ German Bundestag: Law on the compatibility of care and work - basic information
  2. http://www.wikicareer.de/magazin/familienpflegezeit.html
  3. Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. >  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.destatis.de
  4. Federal and State Statistical Offices, Demographic Change in Germany, Volume 2: Effects on hospital treatment and those in need of care in the federal government and in the federal states, Wiesbaden 2010, pages 26 ff and 29 ff ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.destatis.de
  5. http://www.bmfsfj.de/BMFSFJ/aeltere-menschen,did=175038.html
  6. ^ Report of the Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 28, 2012 , accessed on December 28, 2012.

Web links