Academic Qualification with a Family

1.Professors, academic staff, junior professors, and junior lecturers who are temporary civil servants may apply for an extension of their employment contract, provided there are no official objections, based on the reasons stated in § 45 Abs. 6 Satz 2 Nummer 5 of the State Higher Education Act (Landeshochschulgesetz or LHG).

Reasons for extension may include maternity leave, paternity leave or general leave in order to take on care responsibilities.

The total extension period, including any other extensions, must not exceed four years.

Important: This four-year cap does not apply to academic staff employed under collective agreements; in these cases, the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG) applies.

2.Junior professors, junior lecturers, and academic staff may extend their fixed-term civil servant status by two years per child under 14 years old, according to  § 51b LHG  to

 § 52,  with a maximum extension of four years, if the extension is necessary to achieve the qualification goal outlined in § 51 Abs. 7, § 51a Abs. 3, or § 51b LHG.

Reasons for an extension may include care for children under 14 years old, or the care for dependent relatives.

Important: See the “Quality Assurance Concept” under § 51b LHG for tenure-track junior professorships and the Evaluation Statutes for Junior Professorships and Junior Lectureships (11.10.2018, p. 9, Section V. Extension of Employment Contracts) for specific details on extensions due to childbirth, adoption, or caregiving duties.

For academic staff employed under collective agreements, the duration of a fixed-term contract under § 2 Abs. 1 Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG) is extended by the periods during which no employment took place, due to parental leave under the Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz (BEEG), employment bans under §§ 3–6, 10 Abs. 3, 13 Abs. 1 Nr. 3, and § 16 of the Mutterschutzgesetz (MuSchG), or due to a leave of absence or reduction in working hours by at least one-fifth of regular working hours for the care of one or more children under 18 years old, or dependent relatives.

The maximum contract duration is extended by two years per child under 18 years old. This extension also applies if the conditions of § 15 Abs. 1 Satz 1 BEEG are met.

Team Equity helps female doctoral candidates and postdocs with children to network and connect with each other. Therefore, we organize regular meetings.

The next meeting of our network for female doctoral candidates and postdocs will take place at the elkiko (at Lorettoviertel). New dates will be posted here.

If you want to participate, please register at Team Equity-Care.

Usually, we offer childcare at the meetings.

ParenThesis

Network “Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft”