If small children are sick and mom and dad have to work, there is a legal regulation and child sickness benefit. This entitlement expires for children over the age of 12. This should change if possible, also according to the wishes of paediatricians.
What rights do parents have when older children are ill?
Sick children and working parents – they don’t get along. Fortunately, parents of children under the age of 12 have a legal right to child sick leave: if the child is sick, the parents have the right to stay at home and look after their child. So that the financial losses are not too great, there is a right to child sickness benefit.
However, the right to child sick days and child sickness benefit only applies to children under the age of 12.
But what about children older than 12? You can’t necessarily leave them at home alone if they’ve caught the flu or a gastrointestinal virus. So far the following applies here: Parents are not entitled to child sickness benefits after their child’s 12th birthday, they have to take vacation or unpaid leave, work from home or do overtime if they want or have to look after their sick child at home.
Parents and experts are demanding: child sickness benefit for children over the age of 12 too
Many parents are not the only ones who would like to be able to extend their entitlement beyond their 12th birthday. In April 2018, the members of the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag spoke out in favor of raising the age limit for child care sickness benefit.
The German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ) welcomes the initiative: “The age limit of 12 years is incomprehensible from a paediatrician’s point of view, because older children and adolescents also often need home care and nursing in the event of illness.”, explains Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Krägeloh-Mann, President of the DGKJ. It remains to be hoped that the Bundestag will not have to deliberate for too long and will follow the recommendation.
So far, however, nothing has happened (yet). Unfortunately.
If you ever see a petition collecting signatures for this very cause, sign diligently. Because even if your children are still young, they will get older at some point and then you also wish that there were children’s sick days and children’s sick pay for children over 12 years of age.
Image source: Getty Images/ MStudioImages
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