Family and Career/Studies

General Information

Pregnant in College

Studying Medicine as a Parent

You are on parental leave and would like to work part-time?

Then assert your legal claim with the personnel commission. 

In your letter, state how many hours a week you would like to work and the period for which the part-time arrangement is to apply. It is advantageous if your direct superiors are in favor of parental part-time work.

If you have any problems with the granting of part-time parental leave, please contact Equal Opportunity Office  of the Faculty of Medicine immediately. We can file an objection on your behalf in the event that parental part-time leave is rejected and advise you on how to proceed.

No contract extension due to maternity protection and parental leave: The extension of contracts in accordance with Section 2 (5) WissZeitVG does not apply to externally funded contracts.  

It is advisable to check at an early stage whether the third-party funding provider supports measures to reconcile further academic qualifications with starting a family. 

For example, the DFG refers to the possibility of a cost-neutral extension of the term or interruption of the project in the event of family-related absence, see DFG, German Research Foundation - Family leave.

The Family Support Centre of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf is a counseling and mediation center for students and employees of the university and the university hospital who want to combine family and job or studies.

FamilySupportCentre

The costs for childcare outside the regular care times of kindergartens, day-care facilities etc. are reimbursed against invoice (max. 12,50 €/hour; max. 8 hrs. per day; max. 400 €/year; for children up to twelve years of age).* For children under three years of age, costs are also reimbursed during the regular care times if no daycare place or similar is available. Childcare costs for children with disabilities are covered on a pro-rata basis until the end of compulsory schooling.
 
*Support for childcare is possible in the case of: 

• Commitment and committee work at the Medical Faculty including appointment procedures for applicants and committee members.
• Events of the Medical Research School
• Events of the SelmaMeyerMentoring Program
• Further education events for physicians during residency training

This excludes events where on-site childcare is provided. For funded research projects that provide funds for childcare, the cost will be reimbursed by the third-party funders.

A Silencium is intended to allow parents free time to complete scientific work. In the case of a Silencium, childcare costs are covered for individual days upon presentation of an invoice (max. 12,50 €/hr, max. 5 days with 8 hours each, max. 400 €/year).

Childcare costs are reimbursed for children up to 12 years of age and children with special needs until the end of compulsory schooling. For children under the age of three, costs are also paid to the extent specified above during regular care hours if no childcare place or similar is available.

Prerequisite for application: 

• enrollment in a bachelor's, master's or doctoral program or
• employment as a research assistant at HHU or
• appointment to a W1 professorship at HHU

Target groups:

• Students in a bachelor's or master's program
• Doctoral candidates
• Postdocs
• Junior professors (W1)

The Silencium can also be used during parental leave.

Registration

If you need childcare, call the pme Familienservice hotline and register your child or children.

Hotline pme Familienservice: 0800 801007080

If you call by 6:00 p.m., next-day care is guaranteed. If you determine the need for care after 6:00 p.m. the previous day or only directly on the day of care, pme Familienservice will make every effort to cover your care needs. However, a care guarantee cannot be given in these cases. Please note that there must be a need for care of at least 4 hours per day and that care can only be taken up for business reasons. 

The place of care is the Kita Locomotion, which is located in child-friendly rooms at Siegburger Straße 3. 

If you have any further questions, please contact:

Pauline Gentzle-v.d.Vee
Phone: 81-08596

In principle, flexible working hours should be open to all employees, including at management level, without any disadvantages for their career development.

The Act on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesgleichstellungsgesetz - LGG) stipulates the following:

•  employees who actually look after or care for at least one child under the age of 18 or a close relative in need of care shall be given working hours that make it easier to reconcile work and family life, provided that there are no compelling official interests to the contrary.
• the departments should inform their employees about the possibilities of part-time work. This also applies to jobs with supervisor and management tasks.
•  requests by employees to reduce their regular working hours by up to half in order to actually look after or care for at least one child under the age of 18 or a close relative in need of care shall be granted, provided there are no compelling official interests to the contrary. 
•  the reduction in working hours must not impair professional advancement.
• part-time work, teleworking, job sharing and other forms of work organization do not prevent supervisors and managers from taking on and performing their duties and should be encouraged for both genders in management positions.

 § 13 (Fn 17) Arbeitsmodelle und Teilzeit (German)

In accordance with the Collective Agreement for the Public Service of the Federal States (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder, TV-L) and the Collective Agreement for Physicians at University Hospitals (Tarifvertrag für Ärztinnen und Ärzte an Universitätskliniken, TV-Ärzte), § 11 Part-time employment stipulates the following: 

• a lower working time than that stipulated in the contract shall be agreed with employees [or doctors] on request if they look after or care for at least one child under the age of 18 or another relative in need of care according to a medical opinion and there are no urgent official or operational reasons to the contrary.

• part-time employment in accordance with this sentence may be limited to up to five years upon application. It can be extended.

• if part-time employment without a fixed term has been agreed with former full-time employees at their request, they should be given preferential consideration when a full-time position is subsequently filled if they are equally suitable within the scope of official or operational possibilities.

Form "Antrag auf Arbeitszeitänderung gemäß §11 TV-L / TV-Ä" (internal document, access via UKD intranet)