When a child is sick, mothers or fathers often cannot go to work because they cannot find care. For children younger than 12, they are entitled to children’s sick days and children’s sick pay if there is no one else in the household to look after the sick child. This means that the mother or father does not have to go to work and their health insurance fund transfers 90 percent of their net salary. This is what it says on the homepage of the Federal Ministry of Health. Parents who are insured with a statutory health insurance fund are entitled to 30 children’s sick days per year. If there are several children in a family, the maximum number of sick days is 65, for single parents 130. The entitlement to child sickness benefit also applies during part-time parental leave. This does not reduce the parental allowance.
To apply for children’s sick days and children’s sick pay, parents must have their doctor issue a children’s sick certificate, which they then submit to the health insurance fund. Parents can use these days flexibly; the entitlement also applies if they could work in a home office. Employers are also not allowed to demand that parents first reduce overtime. Those who work in a mini-job are entitled to children’s sick days, but usually do not receive any money. On the other hand, it may be worthwhile to first ask the employer whether the company has a special arrangement for parents with sick children.
www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/themen/praevention/kindergesundheit/faq-kinderkrankengeld.html
www.aok.de/pk/leistungen/kinder-familien/kinderkrankengeld/
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Symbol für die Ärzteschaft: das Stethoskop. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Martin Klaus.
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