Family Office "JUniFamilie"

The legal regulations stipulated in the German Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz, MuSchG) also apply to female students during the protection periods before and after childbirth.

The pregnancy must be reported to the Student Service Centre, where you can also get all the necessary forms and information on student maternity leave.

Parental Allowance is a benefit for parents with babies or toddlers.

As a mother or a father, you can receive Parental Allowance if the following conditions are met:

• You are looking after and raising your child yourself
• You and your child live in the same household
• You either do not work at all or work fewer than 30 hours a week
• You live in Germany.

Parental Allowance is available to employees and civil servants, as well as self-employed, unemployed and stay-at-home parents. This means you can also claim Parental Allowance if you were not working before the child was born. This also applies to students. You do not need to stop studying or training to receive Parental Allowance. It does not matter how many hours a week you spend in this capacity. Unlike the restriction on working hours, you can also study or train for more than 30 hours a week.

Parental Allowance for parents with a different nationality

Parents with a different nationality can also receive Parental Allowance. It depends on whether you are a permanent resident in Germany and whether you are allowed to work here. You can receive Parental Allowance if you have a settlement permit – if you have a temporary settlement permit on purpose of studing in germany you’re not allowed to get Parental Allowance.

You can submit an application to your local Parental Allowance office. You should submit your application in good time to ensure that your Parental Allowance is paid out to you in time. Parental Allowance is paid retrospectively for up to 3 months of your child’s life.

Find HERE [pdf, 7 mb] de more informations about Parental Allowance or ask your local parental benefits office.

You can claim child benefits (Kindergeld) following the birth of your child; you must submit a written application to the family office (Familienkasse) of the employment agency. You will generally be granted child benefits if:

• You live in the same household as your child
• Your child is under the age of 18
• German citizens, if their place of residence or the place where they usually stay is located in Germany.
• Citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or of Switzerland if their place of residence or the place where they usually stay is located in Germany and who are entitled to freedom of movement.
• Persons, who live in another country and who are either wholly liable to pay tax in Germany or who are treated accordingly.
• Foreign nationals in possession of  a valid settlement permit. Certain other resident permits may also entitle to child benefit.
• Refugees and persons entitled to asylum who have been incontestably recognised as such

Find more informations at the office of the employment agency

More information on aspects like the organization of studies and semesters on leave can be found on the webpages of the Student Service Centre.

If you have any questions about student finance, please contact the General Social Counselling Service at the Student Services Organization in Thuringia.

Please inform your departmental supervisor and Division for Human Resources if you are pregnant. This will allow you to quickly clear up any questions you might have about maternity leave and parental leave.

Following maternity leave (usually 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after childbirth), both parents can request parental leave. You must submit a written request to your employer at least 7 weeks before taking parental leave.

If you have any questions, please contact the Division for Human Resources in good time.

Parental benefits (Elterngeld) are a form of partial financial compensation for parents who

• look after their child themselves after childbirth;
• live in the same household as their child;
• reduce their working hours or temporarily stop working; and
• have their main place of residence in Germany.

You can submit an application to your local parental benefits office following the birth of your child (retrospectively for a maximum of 3 months).

You can get more information from your local parental benefits office.

You can claim child benefits (Kindergeld) following the birth of your child; you must submit a written application to the family office (Familienkasse) of the employment agency. You will generally be granted child benefits if:

• You live in the same household as your child; and
• Your child is under the age of 18.

You can get more information from the family office of the employment agency.

As a doctoral candidate, you do not have to enrole to undertake a doctorate at the University of Jena. You can enrol as a doctoral candidate by paying the semester contribution. However, you cannot be employed for more than 20 hours a week.

Doctoral candidates can refer to the information for students.

If you are a doctoral candidate and spend over half of your regular working hours as a researcher, the information for employees will also apply to you.

If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate Academy.

As part of our initiatives to help you balance your work and family, there are various options to fully or partially reduce your working hours if necessary.

You can find more information about caring for relatives on the webpages of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).

If you have any questions about the different ways of taking time off, please contact the person responsible for you in the Division for Human Resources.