Paternity Rights in Germany - Rest of Europe/World - Rest of Europe/World

1 Paternity Rights in Germany

18 Oct, 2017 12:38

Hi All

I have an employee based in our German office who has advised he would like to take 2 months unpaid paternity leave split into two periods, one immediately after the birth and the other when the baby is 10-months old.

Can anyone shed any light on the rights of fathers in respect of paternity for Germany or share experience of this.

We use an accountant based in Germany to process payroll, however observe a company closedown period of one week whereby employees are required to save some of their holiday allocation to cover this will be payable during the first month of the paternity leave. We do not allow holiday to carry over, but local law may advise we have to. Any thoughts on whether we pay the holiday due in December and let the employee extend their leave or ask him to take the leave before of after?

I appreciate any advice or responses. Lynsey

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Debora | 0 Posts

19 Oct, 2017 16:44

Hi Lynsey,
You can't reject his request and he can chose when he wants to take it. If your company closes and he usually needs to take holiday but is on paternity leave during that time, you might want to check with him whether or not he wants to take the holiday anyway (as it would be fully paid whereas his paternity leave isn't). However you can't force him to and might have to allow him to carry it over to the next year as an exception.
Kind regards
Debora
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