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The looming extension of the lockdown beyond January 10th again presents many families with enormous organizational challenges - and causes disputes within the coalition.
The SPD wants parents with daycare and school children to be allowed to take paid leave to look after their offspring.
The Union considers the rule, which was expanded shortly before Christmas, for compensation payments from the state to be sufficient.
“If you let schools and daycare centers, you have to think about what happens to your parents.
They then need paid leave, ”said SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil on“ Bild live ”.
"Then companies have to give their parents ten days, 14 days, a week."
The Union does not want to know anything about the blocking attitude.
“There never was,” said Peter Weiß, the union's labor market and social policy spokesman, WELT.
“In the Infection Protection Act, we have regulated that if schools and daycare centers are closed, parents can stay at home if there is no emergency care for their children.
The employer can then have the wages refinanced through the state, ”said Weiß.
This regulation is sufficient.
He doesn't know what to add.
Only 67 percent wage replacement
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The regulation, which was passed shortly before Christmas through an amendment to the Infection Protection Act, provides for a wage replacement of 67 percent analogous to the short-time work allowance if parents lose earnings due to looking after children up to the age of twelve, a maximum of 2016 euros per month.
It was made clear that parents will in future be entitled to compensation if, for reasons of protection against infection, “school or company holidays are arranged or extended or the requirement to attend a school is canceled”.
Previously, the regulation only applied if the daycare center or school was actually closed in the course of an official order, but not in the event that the vacation was extended or the lessons were moved home.
The regulation also applies to facilities for people with disabilities.
The prerequisite for compensation from the state is that there are no other “reasonable” care options for the child.
The SPD and Union agreed on this solution in December a few days after the joint conference between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Minister.
One sentence in the resolution had given many parents hope for a much more generous solution: "Additional opportunities are being created for parents to take paid leave to look after their children during the period mentioned," it said under point 7.
DGB demands at least 87 percent of the net wage
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Like the SPD, the German Trade Union Federation (DGB) is now pushing for an expansion in view of the expected extension.
"Parents need a clear statutory right to exemption from the employer, an increase in compensation and unbureaucratic payment of benefits," said the Deputy DGB Chairman Elke Hannack WELT.
The legislature must now get this under way quickly in order to relieve the families concerned.
The DGB directly demands a compensation payment of at least 87 percent of the net wage.
With short-time work benefits, this threshold is only reached from the seventh month.
In principle, Elke Hannack also sees employers as having an obligation.
"The employers' social conscience is also required here to enable their employees to take time off work," said Hannack.
Parents cannot work and look after their children at the same time - this also applies to those parents who are currently in the home office.
In this context, the DGB defends itself against the slogan “paid leave” used by the SPD.
Looking after children at home is certainly not a vacation.
A maximum of 20 weeks per year for care
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The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had already made it clear in the previous year to what extent parents have to take their vacation leave during the daycare or school closings.
"As a rule, it should be reasonable to use the vacation from the previous year to ensure childcare while the day-care center or school is closed," says a letter from the ministry.
Holidays that have already been planned in advance, which should be taken during the period of daycare or school closings, would have to be used.
Employees, on the other hand, could not be obliged to take all of their annual leave for the current calendar year before they can claim compensation.
The right to compensation applies for a total of 20 weeks, ten weeks for each parent and 20 weeks for single parents.
The maximum period of ten and 20 weeks can be spread over several months.
The money is paid out by the employer.
He transfers the wage replacement of 67 percent and then gets the money back from the state.
The self-employed submit the application directly to the authorities.
How will the school lessons continue?
One thing is clear: It is unclear how the schools will continue.
Since education is a state matter, it is already clear that on Tuesday at the meeting of the federal and state levels there will be further arguments about the opening of schools.
Source: WELT / Philipp Reichelt