Duration of parental leave: how long do you take parental leave?
How long are you allowed to take parental leave? And how flexibly can parental leave be distributed? Here you can find out about deadlines, duration and possible distribution of your parental leave.
The Parental Leave Act offers parents the opportunity to take a career break to look after the new family member, especially in the first few years. Each parent is entitled to up to three years of parental leave per child. Mother and father can decide for themselves how long they want to take parental leave, whether they want to take the full three or return to work earlier. Parental leave can also be spread over several periods. However, you have to observe a few deadlines and conditions in order to claim parental leave .
How long is the right to parental leave?
The entitlement to parental leave exists until your child has reached the age of three and, according to the Ministry for Family Affairs, even without the consent of the employer. Of course, you still have to inform your employer in good time – that means seven weeks before the start of parental leave – how long and in what period you want to take parental leave. In some cases, such as adoption or premature birth, a later application will also be approved. You can find more information on this in our article “Application for parental leave” .
“Parental leave without the employer’s consent” means that your parental leave cannot be easily rejected or postponed. Even though most employers don’t see parental leave as a problem, there are sometimes nasty surprises. Your special protection against dismissal begins eight weeks before the start of parental leave. With the seven-week rule, you have one week to register your parental leave in time without any negative consequences. You can read more about the legal situation relating to parental leave and the workplace in our article “Parental leave – rights and obligations towards the employer” .
If you adopt a child or provide full-time foster care, your entitlement to parental leave begins when the child joins your household. Since these are often older children, you can take three years of parental leave until the child’s eighth birthday .
length of parental leave
The duration of parental leave is limited to a total of three years. Within the first three years, you are free to choose how long you take parental leave, when it starts and ends. If your employer agrees, twelve of the 36 months can also be taken as parental leave between the child’s 3rd and 8th birthday.
All facts about the duration of parental leave at a glance:
- You can take parental leave for a total of three years up to the child’s third birthday. When you write to your employer, you decide whether you would like to take the full three years or split them up.
- While you have to decide early on for the first year of parental leave, you can decide later on about the second and third years . If these years follow the first year of parental leave, you must inform your employer again in writing. But don’t forget that the seven-week period also applies here.
- Alternatively, you have the option of transferring up to 24 months of parental leave . This means: You can also take up to 24 months of parental leave at a later point in time – until your child has reached the age of eight. In this case, however, you need the consent of your employer. You should clarify as early as possible whether your boss agrees with this alternative. If not, you can still claim the second and/or third year in the regular period. Attention: Your unemployment insurance is also valid during parental leave, but only before your third birthday. There is no insurance cover for transferred months.
- Parental leave may be divided into two periods . This can mean, for example, that you stay at home until your first birthday, work for a year and then spend another year of parental leave at home. The periods are discussed in advance with the employer. You must have him approve a distribution over several sections.
- For mothers , parental leave overlaps with the maternity protection period if they want to take parental leave in the first few years after the birth. Parental leave then starts at the time of the birth and not eight or twelve weeks later. Example: Your child is born on June 12, 2011 and you want to take parental leave in the first year. Your parental leave ends on June 11, 2012.
The parental allowance is intended to relieve parents financially if they want to spend less time on their job and more time on the new family member. Therefore, it makes sense to take care of parental allowance parallel to parental leave. You must note, among other things, that the parental allowance is not paid according to calendar months, but according to the months of the child’s life. Since parental allowance is usually only paid for the first 14 months of life and parental leave has to be registered seven weeks in advance, it takes a little planning to optimally combine the two. You can find out more about this topic in our parental allowance special .
Can parental leave be ended early?
Unexpected situations can arise during parental leave – such as your partner becoming unemployed – or you feel the desire to shorten your parental leave. But is it that easy? Unfortunately, no! It is only possible if your employer agrees. He is not legally obliged to comply with this request. A possible reason for a rejection: Your employer could have hired a maternity leave substitute for this time and does not need two people in this position.
However, there is one exception: In cases of hardship, the employee is protected. Examples of hardship would be when the partner has died or is so seriously ill that he can no longer work and the parents’ livelihood is at risk during this time.
How long parental leave when unemployed?
As a rule, only employed persons are entitled to parental leave. However, parental leave while you are receiving Hartz 4 is available in a similar form. Means: If you mainly take care of your baby, you are usually not available to the employment agency for three years. As soon as your child has reached the age of three, you must show that you have made your own efforts.
How long parental leave with several children?
If you have multiple children or if a sibling is announced relatively soon after the first birth, you are entitled to three years of parental leave for each individual child – at least in theory. Parental leave for several children cannot overlap or be distributed at random, but must be taken one after the other. With the specified deadlines and conditions, it is therefore often not possible to take full parental leave.
Twins are born on June 7th, 2011 and the mother and father are each entitled to three years of parental leave for each child. Two of the three years must be taken before the twins’ third birthday. Parents can use two times 12 months later, after consultation with the employer. In the first two years, the parents take parental leave for the first twin. After that, in addition to the transferred months, they still have one year of parental leave for the second twin. In total, parents can take five years of parental leave for their twins.
How long parental leave do civil servants have?
Civil servants are not covered by the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act. However, there is a model very similar to this one. These civil service regulations are regulated differently depending on the federal state. The best thing to do is to contact the responsible human resources department at your authority.
Take the time to plan your parental leave carefully and discuss with your partner whether and how you would like to divide the parental leave between you. You can find more information on this topic in our article “Split parental leave?” .