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New Law Concerning Home Care also Applies to Workshop Employees
Recently, the “Law on structural development of long-term care insurance" (PfWG) has come into effect. This law also introduced the act concerning home care, effective from 1 July 2008. It gives employees the opportunity to be temporarily released from work and/or to work part-time in order to take care of relatives without actually putting their jobs at risk.
Since workshop employees have a special legal status similar to that of regular employees, they are equally entitled to refer to the new law. The scope of the law corresponds for instance to that of the law on the limitation of part-time work. However, the analogical application does not result from the expression “persons similar to employees” mentioned therein, but from the right of workshop employees to claim the same legal protection as regular employees.
Like the regulations for parental leave for child education, the law concerning home care allows for long-term care without questioning the rehabilitation status as such.
As a consequence, workshop employees are entitled to be absent from the workshop for a period of up to ten days, provided a care adjusted to the individual needs of a family member has to be organised in an emergency care situation or the correspondent care has to be ensured by the person in question. The workshops are advised to conclude a basic agreement on their obligations to continue paying wages during that time.
For a period of up to six months, workshop employees can be released from work partly or completely, if they attend a close relative in need of care in his domestic environment (even if ambulant care is partly resorted to). The workshop has to stipulate those arrangements by a written agreement.
Social insurance remains in effect during that period. Similar to the conditions of parental leave or sickness, the rules of the current agreement with the service providers also apply to remuneration. In addition, the obligations to produce supporting documents equally apply to the usage of nursing time.
Since workshop employees have a special legal status similar to that of regular employees, they are equally entitled to refer to the new law. The scope of the law corresponds for instance to that of the law on the limitation of part-time work. However, the analogical application does not result from the expression “persons similar to employees” mentioned therein, but from the right of workshop employees to claim the same legal protection as regular employees.
Like the regulations for parental leave for child education, the law concerning home care allows for long-term care without questioning the rehabilitation status as such.
As a consequence, workshop employees are entitled to be absent from the workshop for a period of up to ten days, provided a care adjusted to the individual needs of a family member has to be organised in an emergency care situation or the correspondent care has to be ensured by the person in question. The workshops are advised to conclude a basic agreement on their obligations to continue paying wages during that time.
For a period of up to six months, workshop employees can be released from work partly or completely, if they attend a close relative in need of care in his domestic environment (even if ambulant care is partly resorted to). The workshop has to stipulate those arrangements by a written agreement.
Social insurance remains in effect during that period. Similar to the conditions of parental leave or sickness, the rules of the current agreement with the service providers also apply to remuneration. In addition, the obligations to produce supporting documents equally apply to the usage of nursing time.
