Right to care leave & partial care leave from 2020

Until now, care leave and part-time care have been purely a matter of agreement between employer and employee. From 01.01.2020, employees will have in undertakings with more than five employees a employment law claim on parental leave or part-time care leave, for a duration of two to four weeks:

• Once the employee knows the date of the intended start of their compassionate leave or part-time compassionate leave, they must inform the employer. Upon request, the employee must, within one week, provide the employer with proof of the care recipient's dependency and verify their family relationship.
• The first two weeks of a requested carer's leave or reduced working hours for caring can be taken by the employee without the employer's consent.
• If no agreement is reached during this two-week period, the employee may unilaterally extend the care leave or part-time care by up to a further two weeks (§ 14c para. 4a or § 14d para. 4a AVRAG as amended from 01.01.2020).

The possibility of agreeing on a longer care leave or part-time care leave (without a legal claim) of up to three months remains unaffected by the new legal entitlement. This applies regardless of company size, meaning it also applies to companies with fewer than five employees (§ 14c para. 1 or § 14d para. 1 AVRAG).

Care leave or reduced-hours care is not intended as a long-term measure, but rather as bridging assistance for the sudden onset of care needs for close relatives.
Close relatives include: spouses, registered partners, life partners, parents, parents-in-law, adoptive parents, foster parents, grandparents, children, children-in-law, adopted children, foster children, stepchildren, grandchildren, siblings.

A prerequisite for nursing leave or part-time nursing is still that the respective relative is entitled to nursing care allowance at least at nursing care level 3 (for relatives with dementia or minors, nursing care level 1 is sufficient).

As financial support, there is, as before, the care leave allowance for the period of care leave or part-time care leave, which must be applied for by the employee from the Social Ministry Service (§ 21c Federal Care Allowance Act).