An overview of German Payroll Absence Presented by Denis Barnard - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
An overview of German Payroll Absence Presented by Denis Barnard Absences in Germany As with most European companies, the rules around leave and pay for u absences follow the Working Time Directive guidelines for the most part The rules are
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As with most European companies, the rules around leave and pay for absences follow the Working Time Directive guidelines for the most part
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The rules are clearly defined, however there are always grey areas
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We will go through:
u Annual Leave u Public Holidays u Maternity Leave u Parental Leave u Sick Leave
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u The minimum mandatory holiday entitlement is 24 working days. Most
companies start the new employees on 24 days and increase according to seniority to max. 30 days.
u Most collective agreements have 26 to 30 days entitlement
in them.
u Holiday entitlement may be carried over to the following year if
there are compelling operational or personal reasons why they could not be taken in the current year, however it must then be taken by latest 31.03. If this is not the case, then any remaining days will be forfeited.
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There is no ability to forfeit leave for cash, unless the employment ends, in which case you are legally obliged to pay cash for any untaken leave.
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Some organisations will allow special additional leave for certain life events such as marriage, bereavement and moving house. These should be clarified in the contract or collective agreements.
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Germany is one of the countries with the most public holidays in Europe. During these days banks and most shops will remain closed. The following is a list of the currently valid public holidays for 2016:
Ø New Year’s Day, May Day, Unification Day, Christmas and Boxing Day are fixed dates. Ø All other public holidays are moveable and depend on the date of Easter each year. Ø Some of the federal states have additional holidays which are also mainly of a religious nature. Many shops and businesses are also closed
public holidays.
u The mother must inform her employer of the pregnancy and
expected date of birth either verbally or via a Doctors Certificate (Employers must reimburse the cost of the certificate if they insist on one)
u An expectant mother is not required to notify potential
employers of her pregnancy before starting employment
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u After an expecting mother has informed her employer of her
pregnancy, the employer must forward the information to the Arbeitsschutzämter, Employment Protection Office or the Gewerberaufsichtsaemter, Business Supervisor's Office
u Both of these offices ensure that all Mutterschutz provisions are
properly regarded, just as they serve to assist both employer and employee on all issues pertaining to Mutterschutz.
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u Both the periods before and after the birth are mandatory leave
periods, however the mother can work in the 6 weeks before birth if she formally states her intention to do so
u Mothers cannot return to work until 8 weeks after the birth of their
baby
u For premature, multiple or caesarean section births the earliest
return date is automatically extended to 12 weeks
u If the baby is born late the full 8 weeks leave must be taken from
the date of the birth
u Women are well protected from loss of employment due to
dismissal - from the beginning of pregnancy until 4 months following childbirth (Schutzfrist) through a Kündigungsverbot, Dismissal Ban
u Only in extremely rare exceptions are employers permitted
to dismiss a pregnant employee during this time.
u This prohibition (Kündigungsverbot) applies when an
employer was properly notified and the pregnancy and/or the forecasted birth date was verbally made known, or the employer received a Certificate of Expected Date of Delivery
u In the event an employer receives a Certificate of Expected
Date of Delivery within 2 weeks of cancelling a pregnant employees contract - the dismissal is usually retracted or nullified
u Pregnant employees are not contractually bound to their
contract's cancellation provisions during the protected period of employment (Schutzfrist)
u Normally they may immediately cancel an employment
contract during this time with impunity
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If a pregnant employee cancels her employment contract she will absolve the employer of having to pay any work related fees including their portion of the Maternity allowance (Mutterschaftsgeld) in such instances.
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Job protection goes much further and into even deeper in detail; for more information contact "Kündigungschutz" at the German Ministry of Economy and Employment at: info@bmwa.bund.de
Ø The employee is paid a statutory maternity pay based on the average net salary of the three months, or 13 weeks preceding the start date of the maternity leave. Ø The amounts paid to the employee may be reclaimed from the medical insurance on a monthly basis.
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Employers should provide an adequate rest room with a reclining chair if needed
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Expectant mothers should not perform tasks that involve heavy labour or work in an environment that would be hazardous to their health. *The employment protection office or the business supervisors office are the deciding authority in unclear cases and can be approached by either party.
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Working is not permitted between 8pm and 6am
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Sunday and public holiday working is not permitted
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Overtime is not permitted
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There is an 8.5hrs maximum working day, or 90 hrs in a two week period (8 and 80 hrs respectively for those under 18) NB exceptions are made for workers in hospitals, restaurants, hotels, agriculture, the arts and family households
u Breast feeding and nursing is highly regarded in Germany
and the Maternity Protection Act has provisions to enable this
u Working mothers who are nursing are permitted to take nursing
breaks as long as they don’t have more than 2 hours in an 8 hour period (although the limits are lower than this anyway)
u Breaks are permitted to be for 30mins twice a day or 1 hr
u If the mother works more than 8hrs then two 45 minute breaks are
permitted, or one 90min break if there is no close nursing area
u These breaks can not be deducted from pay or hours
worked and cannot be used in place of other breaks such as a lunch break.
u Parental Leave (Elternzeit) is part funded by the federal tax
system (Elterngeld is an allowance paid for the first 12 months
u Following the maternity leave the employee may opt to take a
statutory parental leave of maximum 3 years after the birth of the child
u With the Employers agreement, 1 year may be saved and used
when the child is between the ages of 3 and 8
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u The relationship between the employer and employee is effectively
suspended during this period, however the employee may not be terminated.
u Parental leave is available to either parent and the leave may be
shared.
u The BEEG law regulates not only the extent of the leave to be granted
but also the payments which will be made to the parents.
u The parent is entitled to a maximum of three years parental leave
which must be applied for in writing
u The application must be submitted at least 7 weeks before the start
date
u The application must also state how long the person wishes to take
leave.
u Parental leaves applies to all employees,
u The rights apply for natural, foster and adoptive
u The law on employment protection (Kuendigungsschutz)
also applies for the duration of parental leave
u It is also possible for parents to work part-time for up to
30 hours a week without affecting the terms of parental leave or employment protection rights.
u The employee is required to inform the employer of his inability to
work owing to sickness immediately upon occurrence of the sickness
u As of the fourth day of absence, the employee must produce a
doctor’s certificate for absence.
u The employee must have been employed for 4 weeks before the first
day of sickness to qualify for the payment of full salary for 6 weeks.
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u The employer is responsible for paying the full
entitlement for the first 6 weeks.
u As long as the employer hasn’t opted out of the U1 social
security payments (opting out only available to those with 30 employees or more), up to 80% of the costs can be reclaimed.
u From the 6th week of absence the health insurance pays
the sickness to the employee.
u From the 6th week the payment from the health insurance
is 70% of the normal salary, but not exceeding 90% of the net salary.
u The insured employee will receive payment for a
maximum of 78 weeks in a 3 year period for the same illness (starting from the first day of absence).
u Working parents are also entitled to receive sickness
benefits for looking after a sick child under 12.
u Employees may receive benefits for up to 10 working days for each
sick child, up to a maximum of 25 days per year; single parents can have 20 working days, up to a maximum of 50 days per year.
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Employees can take up to 10 days unpaid leave to care for a relative in an urgent situation.
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These days can also be used to organise care for relatives
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Where a company employs more than 15 people, up to 6 months leave is available, unpaid
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http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/maternity_protection.html
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http://www.consultinghouse.eu/fileadmin/colleteral/brochures/Consultingho ues_Information_Sick_leave_Germany.pdf
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http://germany.angloinfo.com/working/eu-factsheets-working/annual-leave- eu/
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http://ehoganlovells.com/cv/ae9d50177d4ae49bc9cac9f388bcdb6b27ce25dc/ p=5511514
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http://www.export.gov/germany/doing_business_in_germany/GermanHoliday s/index.asp
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http://germany.angloinfo.com/family/toddlers/parental-leave/
If you have any questions please contact The Global Payroll Association help@globalpayrollasociation.com 0203 751 1510