Congratulations on your pregnancy!
But what happens now at work - before the birth, during parental leave and afterwards?
In order to ensure that you and your unborn child's health are not endangered in the further course of
your pregnancy, we declare a temporary ban on your employment until the maternity leave.

Pregnancy, the birth of a child and the first months of a child's life are particularly moving and at the
same time sensitive periods in the life of a family. Mother and child need special legal protection around the birth: Maternity leave.

I am pregnant. To whom and with what proof do I have to report my pregnancy?

Please create a „special leave“ ticket via the Workforce One app and attach a certificate (maternity
passport or proof of pregnancy) of your doctor or midwife with your name, estimated due date, and
information about multiple or premature births if known.
Please inform your manager about your pregnancy before creating a ticket.
Also do no forget to scan the birth certificate of the child and send it to us at your earliest convenience.

Calculation of the maternity leave
Usually, as the birthing parent, you will go on maternity leave 6 weeks before your child's birth and 8
weeks after birth (12 weeks after birth in case of multiple births, premature birth or birth of a disabled
child).
For further information, please contact:

Parental leave lasts a maximum of 3 years and begins at the earliest with the birth of the child (until
the age of 3 of the child) and must last at least one month. The entire 3-year parental leave period can
be divided into a total of 3 periods. A period of up to 24 months (2 years) can be taken as parental
leave between the ages of 3 and 8 of the child. A division into more than 3 periods is only possible
with the employer's consent (§§ 15, 16 Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz - BEEG).
Please bear in mind that if the actual date of birth changes, the period of parental leave may also be
postponed - we would therefore ask you to inform us of the exact date as soon as possible.

Effects on vacation

The employer is entitled to reduce the employee’s vacation entitlement for the holiday year by one-
twelfth for each full calendar month of parental leave.

This does not apply if the employee works part-time for his or her employer during parental leave.
Example: Employee takes parental leave between 15th July 2024 until 31st October 2024. His vacation
entitlement for 2024 can be reduced by 3/12 (=1/4), as he has taken 3 full months (August,

September, October) of parental leave. Assuming he has 20 vacation days per year, his vacation
would be reduced by 5 days (3/12 x 20) and he would be entitled to 15 vacation days for 2024.
In case you have not taken your fully accrued pro rate leave entitlement by the start of the parental
leave you can take it after your parental leave ends. Please take your fully accrued pro rata vacation
entitlement by the start of the parental leave period in order to avoid cost-intensive accruals for
existing vacation entitlements.

Part-time work during parental leave

Please note that you can work a up to 32 hours/week on average per month during parental leave.
If you wish to work part-time in your position at Flink during parental leave, you must apply for this in
writing to your manager and inform People Operations in advance. The scope of part-time work during
parental leave can be freely determined in consultation with your manager. The application is also
made in written form and must be extended with the period of part-time parental leave and the number
of hours in comparison to the underneath-noted template for the parental leave.

Example and application for parental Leave

Here is an example for calculating the month(s) you want to stay in parental leave:
Birth of your child is expected on 01.09.2024 and the maternity leave ends on 27.10.2024
(14 weeks in total, six weeks before and eight weeks after the expected birth date) ->
Parental leave for fathers begins at the earliest on the day of the child's birth, 01.09.2024. Parental
leave for mothers begins at the earliest after the end of the maternity protection period.
The maternity protection period is counted towards parental leave so that the mother's parental leave
is not actually extended.
Parental leave can be taken for an uninterrupted period of parental leave up to and including 31
August 2027.

Please create an application for parental leave 7 weeks in advance with the following information and
please also inform your responsible manager in advance:

Template (content):

Flink Expansion [X] GmbH <- Flink Expansion you are employed by must be entered here
Country Operations
Brunnenstrasse 19-21
10119 Berlin

[Your Name & address]

Dear Sir or Madam,
I hereby inform you that I will be taking parental leave after the birth and after the end of the maternity
protection period until [DAY.MONTH.YEAR].

The expected date of birth is [DAY.MONTH.YEAR]. Please confirm you have received this application.
​[DATE & YOUR HANDWRITTEN SIGNATURE]

Step 2:

Send the application as a scan/photo as an attachment in the ticket in Zendesk together with the
child's birth certificate. If the birth certificate is currently not present, you will need to provide it to us as
soon as it is available.

​Step 3:

We will send you a confirmation of your parental leave within that ticket, which you will need to submit
to the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) to apply for allowance during parental leave.

Step 4:

If the date of birth is postponed, you must send us a new application with a corrected date (date of
birth + new parental leave period), as the parental leave may be postponed with the new actual date of
birth.

Step 5:

Please inform your manager, if you have not already done so, of the period you expect to be absent.
In addition, you can find here more general information on parental leave in Germany.

Allowance during parental leave (Elterngeld)

To take parental leave, you do not necessarily have to apply for allowance during parental leave.
However, you do not receive a salary while you are on parental leave.
Parental allowance is paid on a monthly basis - not for calendar months, however, but for the months
of your child's life. If you also organize your parental leave according to the months of your child's life,
you can better coordinate parental leave and allowance. In addition, you can avoid receiving less
parental allowance. You can apply for parental allowance in writing at your local parental allowance
office (Elterngeldstelle).