Care Leave Act

Why was this example implemented?

The Care Leave Act was created to make it easier to combine employment with caring for relatives. The Act addresses a gap arising between the onset of a relative’s need for care, and the establishment of an appropriate solution to the ensuing problems. It offers both a short term and a longer term option up to six months of care leave.

The primary target group are employees with close relatives with care needs. The Act defines the terms ‘employer’, ‘employee’ and ‘close relative’. Furthermore, it defines the criteria for determining categories of ‘care needs’ according to the German LTC Insurance.

Description

According to the Care Leave Act employees can claim leave or partial leave from work by law, for a limited period of time, with the aim of enabling employees to care for close relatives at home, without giving up their employment or having to fear dismissal. The options are (a) a short leave up to ten days or (b) a longer ‘care period’ of one to six months.

1. Employees have the right to leave for up to ten days to organise care or to care themselves for a relative in case of emergency. No further payment during short-term leave is made unless resulting from a claim under other legal regulations or arrangements (eg. labour agreements). No social insurance contributions occur during this period, but the employee’s insurance cover is maintained nonetheless.
2. Employees have the right to leave or partial leave for up to six months to care for a close relative. The employer has to be informed at least ten working days before the leave commences. The employee is not eligible for further payment during the care leave period. Companies with 15 or fewer employees are exempt. The need for care must be assessed and classified in one of three care categories (for further details see §§14/15 SGB XI). Arrangements for partial leave have to be set up in writing for both parties involved. In general, the employer has to comply with the employee’s wishes, unless there are strong internal reasons for refusal.

The scope of the leave period has implications for the employee’s social insurance status (health, long term care, and pension contributions). The employee on leave is no longer subject to statutory social insurance contributions if fully absent from work. The employee may then either be health insured through family co-insurance or s/he has to contribute to a voluntary private scheme. Respective subsidies are available from the statutory Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) Fund. Furthermore, carers on leave are subject to pension contributions if delivering care for more than 14 hours per week. In this case, the care recipient’s care insurance pays for the carer’s pension contributions. In any case, carers continue to be subject to unemployment contributions that are are always paid by the LTCI Fund (cf. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce – Industrie und Handelskammer – Frankfurt am Main).

In both cases (a and b), employees are protected against dismissal from the date they inform the employer about their impending leave. The law does not regulate how often a person can make use of these options.

What are/were the effects?

The provisional results of the study ‘Effects of the Act for Structural Development of Care Insurance (Pflege-Weiterentwicklungsgesetz)’ (cf. Document 17/4135 of the German Bundestag, 8/12/2010) revealed the following findings:

• Short term leave was taken up by an estimated 9,000 people caring for relatives at home at the time of this study.
• The longer term care leave was chosen by about 18,000 people who were caring for close relatives at home at the time of the survey.

Both data might be higher as the take-up by those whose relatives had died or had been admitted to residential care could not be retrieved.

In cases of successful application for (temporary) leave under the Care Leave Act regulations, fundamental relief from the stress of combining work with adapting to the needs of relatives can be expected, enabling the carer to concentrate on their relative’s care needs. However, it is unclear to what extent those who could benefit from the Act in theory actually make use of this opportunity.

It is important to note here that the Care Leave Act is not widely known. A survey by the Institut für Medizinische Soziologie (Charité-Universitätsmedizin) and COMPASS Private Pflegeberatung GmbH found that, of those interviewed, 45% were not aware of the benefits foreseen by the Act.

Furthermore, it is important to note that not all employees can benefit from the Act as the option of leave according to paragraph §3 PflegeZG does not apply to those working for small companies (with 15 or fewer employees).

The legal right to stay at home without breaking an employment contract may, in some cases, incur costs for the employer, e.g. if the employee on leave must be replaced by a substitute.

It can thus be said that, although the Care Leave Act is in force on a national basis, not all who could theoretically benefit from its provisions actually do so.

What are the strengths and limitations?

Strengths

• National legislation guarantees high procedural consistency.

Weaknesses

• The regulation is quite new and thus not yet sufficiently known to all citizens. Furthermore, the optional longer term care leave does not apply to employees of small companies (with 15 or fewer employees).

Opportunities

• If a similar law were to be implemented in another country the implementation process should be relatively straightforward in any society that accords a high value to old age and care of older people.

Threats

• If a similar law were to be implemented in another country employers’ associations are likely to demand the right to decide for themselves how to respond to an employee who wishes to care for a needy relative on a temporary basis.

Credits

External Links and References

Sources:

• Care leave act (Gesetz über die Pflegezeit – PflegeZG).

• Document 17/4135 of the German Bundestag, 8/12/2010.

• Press release to the Survey "Studie zu Erwartungen und Wünschen der PPV-Versicherten an eine qualitativ gute Pflege und an die Absicherung bei Pflegebedarf, 29. April 2010".

• Information on the Care Leave Act published by the Industrie und Handelskammer – Frankfurt am Main.