Germany: The concept of temporary part-time work will be introduced under German law as of 1 January 2019

Under the current legal situation, there is no entitlement for an employee to return to full-time employment once they have worked part-time, but such increase in the working time is subject to the employer’s consent. This is about to change as an amendment to the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz – TzBfG) regulating a right for employees to return from part-time to full-time employment will enter into force on 1 January 2019.

The new regulations provides that employees with at least six months of service shall be generally entitled to a temporary part-time arrangement for a period of between one and five years, provided that the employer has at least 45 employees. For companies with 46 to 200 employees, a limit of one part-time employee per 15 employees will apply to reduce the operational burden of temporary part-time arrangements.