As the demands of modern parenting continue to evolve, Austria’s “Elternteilzeit,” or parental part-time work right, has become an increasingly important tool for working parents seeking a better work-life balance. 

However, many people either don’t know about this right or get confused about the specific rules and do not take advantage of this possibility. 

This legal provision allows parents of young children to temporarily reduce their working hours while maintaining job security and social benefits. It also allows them to simply change their work hours, such as start and end time, without reducing them if changes will better suit kindergarten opening hours, for example. Or, they can do both: reduce their working hours and change their schedules.

Under Austrian law, parents of children up to eight are entitled to Elternteilzeit. This right applies to both mothers and fathers and can be taken independently or consecutively. However, it’s important to note that wages are adjusted accordingly.

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Who is entitled?

If you are a mother or father working in a company with more than 20 employees, you have the right to reduce or rearrange your work hours. Your employment relationship must have lasted at least three years without interruption—periods of parental leave such as Mutterschutz and Karenz count towards that.

Additionally, you must live with your child in a shared household, and the other parent may not be on parental leave for the same child at the same time.

Since 2016, working hours can only be reduced within a specific range: at least 20 percent of your normal weekly hours. With a traditional 40-hour work week, this can be between 12 and 32 hours per week.

If you are entitled to parental part-time work, you only need to inform the company formally.

How do I change to part-time work, then?

You need to inform your employer in writing that you wish to reduce our working hours or organise them differently in the future. 

You’ll have to tell them the start date, or from when the hours should be different; duration, so for how long you want the changes to last (the minimum duration is two months), location and new desired working hours. You can find a sample letter from the Chamber of Labour HERE.

Usually, and especially if you have a good relationship with your employer, you can have a conversation with them before formalising the request in a written communication. The company and employee agree on the exact terms. 

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Employers can deny a request that is unfeasible for the company, such as if a worker wants to work only outside of an establishment’s opening hours.

You need to watch out for the deadlines. If you want to go on Elternteilzeit immediately after the period of work protection after the birth of a child, as a mother, you need to announce this during your Mutterschutz. As a father, you must announce this within eight weeks of the birth.

If you want to go on part-time or change your hours after you return to work from parental leave,  you need to inform your employer of the changes at least three months before returning to work.

If you plan on asking for part-time work at a later date, for example, when the child is two years old and going to a creche or after your partner returns to work from parental leave, you need to notify them no earlier than four months from the planned date of changes but no later than three months. 

Protection against dismissal

One practical advantage of taking parental part-time work or changing your work schedule is that you are protected against dismissal—meaning you cannot be fired (except in a few cases) during that period. 

The protection against dismissal starts as soon as you notify the company of your intention to change your work hours but no earlier than four months before the intended start of parental leave. 

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The protection against dismissal and redundancy ends four weeks after the end of parental part-time work but no later than four weeks after the child’s 4th birthday.

Between your child’s 4th and 8th birthdays, you have protection against dismissal for cause: your employer may not dismiss you because you are taking part-time parental leave. You can fight such a dismissal in court.

You can be dismissed during part-time parental leave if you take up another job in addition to your part-time employment without the employer’s consent.

How long can I stay on this scheme?

Part-time parental leave can be taken until the child’s 8th birthday – for a maximum of seven years in total. 

The periods of non-employment after the birth and the parental leave periods of both parents for the same child are deducted from these seven years.

After this period ends, either by time limit or agreement, you return to your regular hours.

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