If an immediate family member has fallen ill, for example your partner, father or mother, you are allowed to take short-term care leave. You are entitled to take a maximum of 2 weeks care leave within a 12-month period. During short-term care leave, you will continue to receive 70% of your wages; this payment may not be less than the statutory minimum wage for your age.
One of the conditions for short-term care leave is that this person who is ill needs care and you are the obvious person to provide that care. If the person who is ill has been admitted to the hospital, then you cannot usually take short-term care leave because the person who is ill is already receiving appropriate care.
If your child suddenly falls ill at school and you have to collect your child, you can take time off for this. This is called emergency leave and other short-term absenteeism. This type of leave can be taken in emergency situations that need to be resolved immediately.
If you wish to take care of someone close to you who is critically ill, you are entitled to long-term care leave. You can also apply for long-term care leave when someone close to you is ill or in serious need of care for a lengthy period of time. You can only apply for this leave if this person is in need of care and you are the only person able to provide this care.
Applications for long-term care leave are made to your employer. You must do this at least 2 weeks before you wish to take this leave. Your employer can ask you for information to check whether you are entitled to this leave. This could be a letter from a doctor; the GP or hospital doctor, for example.
You can take care leave to care for a family member abroad. However, you will have to prove that it is necessary for you to provide this care.
Your employer can only refuse your request if granting it would cause serious problems for business operations. This applies to both short-term and long-term care leave.
Short-term care leave starts as soon as you submit the request to your employer. If you are unable to report this leave in advance, please make sure you let your employer know as soon as possible. If this causes problems for your company, your employer can stop or cancel your leave even after you have reported it. If your employer does not do this, then your employer will not be able to stop your leave at a later time. Even if your long-term care leave has already started, your employer is not entitled to stop it.