📅 Family care leave (FPfZG)
In brief
Family care leave allows employees to reduce their working hours for up to 24 months to at least 15 hours per week in order to care for a close relative in need of care at home. Unlike care leave, it does not allow full leave, but it allows a much longer total duration. You can cushion the loss of income caused by the reduced working hours with an interest-free loan from the Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben (BAFzA, Federal Office for Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions) – not, as is sometimes assumed, from the KfW.
Step by step
- Check your entitlementFamily care leave requires at least care level 2 for your relative and, for the full legal entitlement, an employer with usually more than 25 employees.
- Give noticeAnnounce family care leave in writing at least 8 weeks before it starts.
- Agree the extentAgree the reduced weekly working hours (at least 15 hours) with your employer for a period of up to 24 months.
- Apply for the loanApply to the BAFzA for the interest-free loan to bridge the loss of income; the monthly instalment is calculated as half of the difference between the flat-rate net income before and during family care leave.
- Note the follow-up phaseAfter family care leave ends, a follow-up phase begins in which you repay the loan and in which protection against dismissal also applies.
Deadlines
- The loan for family care leave is granted by the Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben (BAFzA), not by the KfW – a common misconception.
- Family care leave does not allow full leave; weekly working hours must not fall below 15 hours.
- With employers who have 25 or fewer employees there is no enforceable entitlement, only the possibility of requesting an agreement.
- The loan must be repaid in the follow-up phase after family care leave ends – it is not a grant.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Entitlement and extent (§ 2 FPfZG)
Employees can take partial leave from work for a maximum of 24 months in order to care for a close relative in need of care (at least care level 2) in their home environment; the remaining weekly working hours must not fall below 15 hours. The legal entitlement applies only to employers with usually more than 25 employees (§ 2 Abs. 1 FPfZG).
Combination with care leave
Care leave (PflegeZG, up to 6 months) and family care leave (FPfZG, up to 24 months) can be taken one after the other; the total duration of both periods of leave for the same relative must not exceed 24 months (§ 4a FPfZG).
The interest-free loan
For the duration of family care leave (as for care leave under § 3 PflegeZG), the Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben (BAFzA) grants an interest-free loan on application. The monthly loan instalment is half of the difference between the flat-rate monthly net income before and during family care leave. Continued payment of remuneration by the employer is not provided for by law; the loan does not replace wages but bridges the income gap.
Protection against dismissal and follow-up phase
Via § 2 Abs. 3 FPfZG, the dismissal protection rules of § 5 PflegeZG apply accordingly: from the notice onwards, but no earlier than 12 weeks before the announced start, until the end of family care leave, the employer must not give notice of termination. Family care leave is followed by a follow-up phase in which the reduced working hours are gradually increased again and the loan is repaid.
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