The so-called sabbatical is very popular. Employees can take a professional break of up to 12 months. But there are some general conditions to consider.
Simply taking a break and getting away from work – that sounds like a dream for many people. Employees have this opportunity with a sabbatical. But which models are there? And what do employers and employees have to consider?
What is a sabbatical?
The term Sabbatical is derived from the Hebrew word “šabat” and literally means something like “to pause” or “to rest”. A sabbatical is a professional break that usually lasts between three and twelve months. Some companies also give their employees unpaid leave for up to five years without their jobs being eliminated. The time off is intended to help improve work-life balance and provide motivation to return to work.
This term originally comes from the USA. American professors used this break to concentrate on their research. In Germany this regulation is known as a “research semester”.
Who is entitled to a sabbatical?
In Germany, only civil servants and public sector employees have a legally established right to a sabbatical. In exceptional cases, such an agreement is stipulated in the collective agreement. As a result, most employees in the private sector have no legal right to appropriate time off. In some cases the regulations even vary from state to state. “It always requires the employer’s individual consent,” says Eckhard Schmid, specialist lawyer for labor law at the law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, in an interview with impulse.
Civil servants must link a sabbatical to an application for part-time employment. In order to be able to take a break, you work full-time during part-time working hours. You can later take consecutive time off during the sabbatical to use the saved working hours.
In the private sector, however, it is at the discretion of the employer whether he offers such a working time model or approves it upon request. This excludes regulations that are stipulated in a collective agreement.
Which models are there?
The simplest regulation is special leave. However, this can last a maximum of four weeks. In addition, in this case the employee does not receive a salary – but is still covered by social insurance.
Another option is unpaid leave. Here too, the employee takes unpaid leave. However, if the stay lasts longer than four weeks, the employee must take out health and nursing care insurance themselves. The same applies to pension and unemployment insurance.
A wage waiver is also conceivable. In this model, the employee works full-time but only receives part of his salary. He then receives the other part during the sabbatical period.
Regardless of which model is ultimately chosen, employers and employees must first think carefully about how the sabbatical should work. “Since there is no legal regulation, all agreements must be documented,” says Schmid.
Felix Spies, editorial team at finanzen.net
