Applying for parental leave: You have to take this into account now!

Working parents can take up to three years of parental leave after the birth of their child to look after the new family member. At the same time, they keep in touch with the world of work. But even if there is a legal right to parental leave, you must inform your employer in good time, i.e. at least seven weeks in advance , about your parental leave.

What should the application for parental leave look like? You can find so-called parental leave forms on the Internet , but a simple letter in which you record the following points is also sufficient:

• When does your maternity leave begin?
• When your parental leave ends.
• Which time periods you might want to split parental leave into .

Tips on applying for parental leave

Rights and obligations naturally apply to all employees. Depending on whether the mother or father applies for parental leave, there are a few special points that you should pay attention to. A few general tips will help all applicants:

• A verbal agreement is not legally binding, so the following applies to applications and all subsequent agreements: record everything in writing and have your boss confirm it in writing.
• Did your employer receive your application for parental leave in good time? To avoid disputes, it is better to have the receipt acknowledged in writing or send your application by registered mail.
• You and your partner should plan and coordinate parental leave carefully. Who takes parental leave, when and for how long? Actually, the parental leave must be used in the first three years of the child’s life, but within the regulations and in consultation with the boss, more flexibility is also possible. For example, you can transfer up to 12 months of parental leave, i.e. save it for a later date. The months saved can be used up to the child’s eighth birthday, for example for the first time in kindergarten or when starting school. You can find out more about the duration and deadlines for parental leave in our article “How long can parental leave be taken?” .
• You must specify the time for two of the three years of parental leave in your first application for parental leave. Theoretically, you can also arrange the entire parental leave at an early stage, but you are then bound to a plan that can only be changed later with the employer’s consent. It is best to decide later about the third year in order to optimally adapt it to your needs.
• You don’t want to give up work completely during parental leave? You can work up to 30 hours a week without any problems. However, you should discuss part-time employment with your boss when you register for parental leave. In this way you can prevent the company from refusing the part-time request due to “urgent operational reasons” because a substitute may have been hired. You can read more about your options for working part-time during parental leave in our article “Parental leave and working part-time” .

Apply for parental leave for mothers

As an expectant mother, you are not only entitled to parental leave, but you are also on maternity leave as soon as you inform your employer about the pregnancy . This means that, on the one hand, you cannot simply be terminated. On the other hand, you are prohibited from working eight weeks after the birth of your child. In the case of premature or multiple births, the period after the birth is even extended to twelve weeks.

The regulations on parental leave and maternity leave may seem a bit confusing at first, but they are actually quite simple:

• The following applies to registration: Parental leave only begins after maternity leave. You must therefore submit your application for parental leave no later than one week or five weeks after the birth.
• The following applies to the duration of parental leave: Maternity leave serves a similar purpose to parental leave and is therefore counted towards the three years of parental leave. Suppose your child is born on April 17, 2012 and you only take parental leave in the first year. Even if eight weeks after the birth fall under the maternity leave period, your parental leave ends on April 16, 2013 and not eight weeks later.

Apply for parental leave for fathers

For fathers who want to take parental leave immediately after the birth of their child, it is not easy to optimally plan their parental leave. Like all applicants, they must submit the letter with the start, duration and distribution of parental leave seven weeks in advance, but can only use the calculated date of birth as a guide. It is possible that the child will come a little earlier and the parental leave has not yet started. Or it comes a little later and parental leave has already begun. That doesn’t sound too bad at first, but the point in time when applying for parental leave plays a role:

• Parental allowance: Parental allowance is paid out in the first 14 months of the child’s life. The calculation of parental leave, on the other hand, is based on calendar months. Depending on how far apart the calculated date of birth and the actual birth are, the father may already be on parental leave, but not yet receive any parental allowance.
• Protection against dismissal: Unlike the mother-to-be, the father only benefits from his special protection against dismissal eight weeks before parental leave. So if you want to be fair and announce your parental leave early on, you may risk a nasty surprise. To be on the safe side, expectant fathers should use the week between dismissal protection and the seven-week deadline to submit their application.

Take the time to educate yourself about parental leave. A good point of contact is the local parental allowance office, which can also answer many questions about parental leave.