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Paid
Parental Leave in Germany:
Up to 1,800 € per child/month |
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In Germany parents may obtain up to 1,800 € per month for a child born in 2007 and later due to a new law which remodels the system of paid parental leave. Although parents were already entitled to receive up to 300 € per month this regulation was being seen as insufficient for working women and men to have children because the benefit was no full compensation of the wage that a parent looses if he or she cares for a child.
In the new system, a mother or a father gets 67 % of the net income in the last 12 months before the birth but not less than 300 € and not more than 1,800 €. Those who have not worked before the birth can only get 300 €. The parent demanding this paid parental leave must not work more than 30 hours a week after the birth and if there is no reduction of working time to 30 hours or less, only 300 € can be granted. If the parent earns an income after the birth the payment will be generated by 67 % of the difference between the last and the actual income.
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| This
policy is another step to heighten the number of babies born in
Germany, a country with an alarming low fertility rate of 1.36 to 1.37
per woman. To maintain the level of the population, a rate of 2.1 is
regarded as to be necessary. But Germany is not the European country
with the lowest rate. Most Eastern European countries that became
members of the EU in 2004 show even lower figures and some Southern
European countries are also behind Germany. Many projects have yet been
started to have more newborn citizens but no significant success has
been seen. The new model adopts the Scandinavian system which might
have helped the countries in the North of Europe to have both a higher
fertility rate and a high participation of women in working life. The
parenthood benefit which will come into operation in 2007 is called
“Elterngeld” in German which might be translated “parent’s money”. The
old system of paid parental leave will still affect those children born
before New Year’s Day 2007. A mother or a father can receive parent’s money up to 12 months. Two more months will be subsidised if the other partner demands parental leave too. The government wants fathers to play a more active role in child rearing. Nowadays only 5 per cent of German fathers require parental leave. Part-time work up to 30 hours is compatible with parental leave. Students, apprentices or child minders may benefit from the new payment even if they work longer. If the other parent asks for the benefit in this two-months-time the payment depends of the net income of this partner before the confinement. Advertisement Many foreigners in Germany will be entitled to receive the payment like Germans. The new law applies among others to citizens of the European Union and of the Common European Market and other foreigners who have a settlement permit or a residence permit and are allowed to work. There is a special regulation for people with incomes lower than 1,000 euros. The percentage rate will be higher by 0.1 percentage point for each 2 € the parent’s income falls short of 1,000 €. For example a mother with a net income of 800 € can get 616 € (= 77 %). Parents with more children can obtain a premium if there are two children under three years or three children under six years. In these cases the parent’s money will be higher by 10 % for each child, at least 75 €. Additional 300 € will be paid for the second or each more child if there is a multiple birth. Parents are free in splitting the time of paid parental leave but each partner must take at least two months. A single parent can get a 14-months-payment if she or he only has the custody and does not live together with the other partner and suffers from a reduction of the income because of the birth. The same applies to cases where the other parent’s participation in the education of the child is against the child’s well-being or the other parent is prevented from childcare for reasons of health or handicap or imprisonment. It is possible to extend the time of paid parental leave to the double time of each partner with benefits paid only half. Parental leave has to be seen differently from paid maternity leave which generally starts six weeks before the confinement and ends eight weeks after it. This payment will be cleared with the paid parental leave. Parent’s money will neither be taken into account up to the amount of 300 € with other benefits such as welfare, unemployment money or housing subsidy nor does it touch claims to maintenance. In general parents have to demand the parent’s money at their local youth welfare office. In addition to the parent's money, child allowance is paid to all children under 18 years in Germany regardless of the parent's income (154 € per child and month, from the fourth child on 179 €; from 2009 164 € for each of the first two children, 170 € for the third child and 195 € for each subsequent child). The German government estimates the costs of paid parental leave at 3.9 billion € in 2009 which is the time when the old system will have expired. The government says that in 2007 it will pay out 3.5 billion € and in 2008 4.4 billion €. Germany’s federal budget will bear the costs. The complement of the paid parental leave is the right of employees to demand a time-out of their employment contract’s obligation to work. Parents may demand a parental leave up to three years after the birth of the child. This means that an employee may return to work after three years at the same conditions but he or she won’t get a wage during the leave. Employers have no chance to refuse the release. A mother or a father intending to stay away from work after the birth has to ask the employer at least seven weeks before the begin of the leave. Under certain conditions an employer has the obligation to offer half-time-work to the employee taking parental leave. In the time from asserting the parental leave until its end an employee may not be dismissed. If the employer wants to end the work-relationship to the end of the parental leave he has to do so with a three months notice. | Fertility
rates of women in Europe in 2007 (according to EUROSTAT,
the statistical office of the European Union)
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Last Update: 20 August 2009