Sabbatical / short sabbatical
This page provides you with information on sabbaticals and short sabbaticals from the staff portal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Sabbatical
The sabbatical is a part-time employment plan for civil servants and pay scale employees. This plan is available to part-time employees as well.
Its legal basis is Section 2 of the worktime regulations for civil servants (Verordnung über die Arbeitszeit der Beamtinnen und Beamten, ArbzVO). Pay scale employees fall under Section 6 subsection 2 sentence 2 combined with Section 11 of the collective wage agreement for the public sectors of the German states (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder, TV-L).
Standard part-time employment means working hours are reduced over the entire period of employment. A sabbatical, by contrast, comprises two phases:
1. Work phase for accumulating service credits
In this phase you initially keep your regular hours.
2. Leave of absence
The sabbatical period (comprising both phases) is 2–7 years. The leave of absence may span 1–3 ½ years. The period of absence must be continuous and may not be taken before half of the award phase has elapsed. In duly substantiated exceptional cases the leave of absence may commence earlier.
Common variants
Common variants are periods of 4 and 7 years, structured as follows:
4 years
- Part-time employment comprising 75% of regular hours,
- spread over a period of 3 years of full-time employment, and
- 1 year leave of absence (to begin no sooner than 2 years into the 4-year period)
7 years
- Part-time employment comprising 85.71% of regular hours,
- spread over a period of 6 years of full-time employment, and
- 1 year leave of absence (to begin no sooner than 3 ½ years into the 7-year period)
Other variants are possible.
Salary
You will be remunerated in accordance with the agreed-upon part-time conditions for the entire duration of your sabbatical plan. Particular bonus payments constitute an exception. Capital accumulation benefits (Vermögenswirksame Leistungen, VL) are paid pro rata temporis.
Furthermore, civil servants will receive a special children’s bonus and supplemental contributory health care insurance coverage (Beihilfe) in accordance with legal provisions regardless of their part-time employment.
Illness
Pay scale employees
The work phase shall be extended in cases of long-term illness. The extension corresponds to the period during which the employee is ineligible for continued remuneration. It can also be granted subsequent to the leave of absence. The leave of absence itself will not be extended due to incapacity.
Civil servants
Absences due to the statutory period of employment prohibition for mothers, illness, or stays at rehabilitation centers will not suspend the sabbatical plan. The work phase and the leave of absence will continue regardless of suspensions.
Premature termination and suspension
Sabbatical leave agreements shall be dissolved or suspended only by mutual consent. In the event of a premature termination of the sabbatical, any payments applicable to the remaining period of the sabbatical must be refunded. If the working hours of your individual sabbatical plan exceed the hours remunerated during this period, you will receive a back payment.
Pay scale employees
The collective wage agreement allows for termination or suspension; in particular, when the employment relationship has ended, in cases of longer leaves of absence, for statutory maternity leave, or for parental leave.
Civil servants
The sabbatical ends if the civil servant status terminates or if a long-term leave of absence (3 years min) is granted. In the case of parental leave, the sabbatical can either be terminated or suspended.
Vacation entitlement
During the work phase, the contractual or statutory vacation entitlement applies. If the leave phase corresponds with a calendar year, there is no entitlement to vacation. If it begins or ends during the year, the vacation entitlement will be reduced proportionally.
Statutory maternity leave / parental leave
Statutory maternity leave periods do not suspend the sabbatical. Both phases continue regardless of these absences. Parental leave periods and unpaid special leave periods (e.g., for family-related reasons) will not be calculated in the length of the work and leave phases. These types of leaves continue after the leave period has ended, provided the sabbatical has terminated or is to be terminated by mutual consent.
Insurance and benefits
Coverage within the statutory social insurance scheme is granted during leaves of absence.
Calculations of a civil servant’s periods of employment considered pensionable during the period of award and pensionable service periods are based on the agreed-upon average weekly work schedule.
We recommend that you contact the center for personnel and payroll services (Zentrum für Personaldienste, ZPD) for advice on social security with a focus on retirement and pensions.
Short sabbatical
Short sabbaticals are a further variant of part-time employment. They provide employees with an opportunity to accumulate longer leave periods, which may be completed in one piece or interspersed over time. Myriad models are conceivable within the bounds of service interests. For example, you may work for 3 weeks and have 1 week off. In this case, you would receive 75% of your remunerations for the entire 4 weeks.
Short sabbatical periods of up to a maximum of 1 year are permissible. This worktime distribution model allows part-time employees to combine 6 months of full-time work with a 6-month leave of absence.
Legal basis
Pay scale employees
Civil servants