Working with a family
Employees with family responsibilities must deal with the challenge of balancing work and family life. Parents and parents-to-be can find information on topics like maternity leave, parental leave, parental financial benefits, and working time arrangements below. The care portal has a variety of information for employees who care for family members as well.
Image: Janne Marie Dauer Information for parents-to-be
When a pregnancy is confirmed, expecting parents are faced with many questions. The Human Resources and Organization department has compiled a leaflet (German only) containing the most important regulations on maternity leave, parental leave, childcare leave, and extended leave. The Family Welcome Service has also created a checklist (German only): What do I need to consider (and when?), once my pregnancy has been confirmed?
All employees, regardless of their contract status or individual working hours, trainees, student assistants, and research assistants are entitled to parental leave. Each parent is entitled to a total of 36 months of parental leave per child. 24 of the total 36 months can be taken between the child's third and eighth birthday. Before taking parental leave, please be informed on the applicable deadlines for parental leave registration. Further information on parental leave can also be found on the website of the Bundesministeriums für Familie.
Parental allowance is a wage replacing financial benefit that parents receive if they care for their child during the first 12 or 24 months and leave their job either partially or completely to do so.
The amount of pay is based on the net salary of the parent providing care, which is consequently lost after birth. Depending on a person’s income, the basic parental allowance ranges from €300 to €1,800 per month. The minimum of €300 is paid to anyone who cares for their child themselves after birth and works a maximum of 30 hours per week. This means that students with or without a part-time job and people running a household receive the minimum amount of €300 per month.
Further information on parental allowance can be found on the website of the Bundesministerium für Familie.
The legal entitlement under Section 45 SGB V (10 days) takes precedence over the entitlement to time off under the collective agreement (4 days), Section 29 TV-H. If an employee is entitled to sick pay under Section 45 SGB V during the child's illness, the employee will not receive any compensation from the employer during this period. The entitlement to leave under § 29 (1) letter e double letter bb) TV-H only applies to employees who have reached their entitlement under § 45 SGB V or who are not covered by public health insurance.
Additionally, medical verification of the need for the employee's presence at home, not including any specific information on the illness itself, must always be submitted to the employer.
The continuous expansion and evaluation of family-friendly studying, research, and working conditions is a central component of the University of Kassel's efforts to become a family-friendly university. As part of its family- and life stage-oriented human resources policy, the university has set the goal of making special arrangements for family leave, such as parental or care leave, for its employees.
The Contact Retention and Re-entry Program supports communication between the university and its employees before, during, and after family-related leaves of absence.
It is aimed at all employees in science, technology, and administration, as well as trainees at the University of Kassel who are planning or taking family-related leave (e.g. pregnancy, maternity, parental, and caretaking leave).
The contents of the program and the entire concept can be found on the page: Contact Retention and Re-entry Program “Structuring Family Time”.
Options for Organising Working Time
The university has a flexible working hours model. You can find out which employment groups are eligible, and which are excluded from flexible working hours on this page.
Employees who partake in the model can determine the start and end of their daily individual working hours independently within the framework of the applicable pre- and post- flexible working hours and the set core working hour agreement. A daily workload of 10 hours may not be exceeded.
The service agreement on remote work, which has been in place since October 17. 2022, allows employees to work remotely. The service agreement and further information can be found in the internal section under Working Time Matters - Remote Work.
Employees at the University of Kassel have the option of working part-time to better balance their professional and personal lives. Further information can be found on the Human Resources and Organization Department website at this link.
If you have any further questions, please contact the responsible staff members in the Human Resources and Organization Department.