Vacation, sick leave
Annual leave entitlement is calculated on the basis of regular working days, and only these days must be deducted when submitting a request. Employees who work a 5-day week are entitled to 30 days of leave per year.
5-day week – 30 days of leave (UT)
4-day week – 24 UT
3-day week – 18 UT
2-day week – 12 UT
The full annual leave entitlement is acquired for the first time after six months of employment (waiting period).
If the contract begins after January 1, the annual vacation entitlement is reduced accordingly, but only full months of employment are calculated. Public holidays and December 24 and 31 are considered non-working days.
Important: unused vacation days can be carried over to the following year, but must be taken before September 30 of the following year. Vacation days not taken by the deadline will be forfeited!
The vacation request form for the relevant calendar year can be downloaded here (please note: there is a separate form for student employees). The form is then circulated between the applicant, the line manager, and the departmental administration and must be used for the entire calendar year.
Procedure:
- Applicants fill out the header of the application form and check their regular weekly working days.
- Leave the fields for total vacation entitlement blank. These will be filled in by the department administration when you submit your application for the first time.
- Then select the reason for leave and enter the start and end dates of your leave. When submitting your first application, leave the “Remaining leave” field blank. It will be filled in by the department administration. For future applications, enter the remaining leave days here.
- Sign in the “Applicant's signature” field and save the form. Your supervisor signs in the “Approved by” field. The form is then sent to the department administration at Urlaub-AU@PolSoz.fu-berlin.de. They check it, sign under “Noted” and return the form to the applicant.
- Important: only signatures created in the document with a digital ID will be accepted. To do this, click in the blue field "Applicant's signature" and follow the instructions. The document must remain editable!
Sick leave must be reported on the day of illness before the start of regular working hours by informal email to the relevant department in the PolSoz administration at Urlaub-AU@polsoz.fu-berlin.de.
As your department (line manager and secretary) must also be informed, you should copy them in or inform them separately.
You can report sick for 3 days without presenting a doctor's note.
A doctor's note is required from the 4th day at the latest. Most doctors now only issue an electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU), which sends your data directly to your health insurance company, where your employer can access it electronically. Instead of receiving a paper certificate from you, the department administration only needs the start and end dates of your electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU). If you still receive a printed certificate from your doctor, please submit it by email to the above address and send the original to the following address:
Freie Universität Berlin
FB Politik und Sozialwissenschaften
Abteilung Krankmeldungen
Ihnestr. 21
14195 Berlin
Please note: Weekends and public holidays are also included in the calendar days. So if you reported sick on a Friday and are still sick on Monday, you must submit a doctor's certificate by Monday at the latest.
Return to work notification
On the day you return to work, you must send an email with the subject line “Return to work notification” (Gesundmeldung) to the above email addresses. The return to work notification is essential, as otherwise you will continue to be considered sick and the department will make inquiries.