In short: If your sole HR contact person for parental leave goes on leave, you’ll need to plan for a replacement in a timely manner, because deadlines, protection against termination, and knowledge transfer all run concurrently. An external HR department can typically fill the operational gap within one to two weeks, without a handover process that takes months.
In many small and medium-sized businesses, all human resources work rests on a single person. If that very person takes parental leave, it’s good news for the family at first, but for the company, it’s often the moment when a structural risk becomes apparent: Who will be familiar with the deadlines, the contracts, and the ongoing processes when that person is actually unavailable eight weeks later?
An Overview of Legal Deadlines
Registration Deadline for Employees
- If parental leave is to begin before the child’s third birthday, the employer must be notified at least seven weeks in advance. If parental leave is to begin between the child’s third and eighth birthdays, this notice period is extended to 13 weeks.
It's the date of access that counts, not the date it was sent
- What matters is when the notice actually reaches you, the employer, not when it was sent.
Formal Requirements Since the Fourth Bureaucracy Reduction Act
- For children born on or after May 1, 2025, a notification in text form—such as by email—is sufficient. For children born before that date, the stricter requirement of written form with a handwritten signature continues to apply.
Special Protection Against Dismissal
- Protection against termination begins even before parental leave starts—no later than eight weeks in advance if parental leave begins before the child’s third birthday, and no later than 14 weeks in advance if it begins later. During parental leave, the employer may terminate the employee’s employment only in extremely exceptional cases and with the approval of the relevant state authority.
Binding Determination
- When first applying, employees must specify the time periods during which they wish to take parental leave within the first two years of the child's life.
Formally, these deadlines apply only to the employee’s own employment relationship. In practice, however, they mean that you, as a company, have only a few weeks from the time of notification to organize a replacement—often while day-to-day business continues as usual.
What happens operationally when the gap arises
Unlike in the case of a termination, parental leave usually does not allow for advance planning for a structured replacement, and the timing and scope of the employee’s return—whether part-time, full-time, or additional parental leave—are uncertain. This makes a traditional new hire risky: Who would hire a full-time employee when it is unclear whether and when the position will become available again?
At the same time, day-to-day tasks continue: contracts must be processed, vacation requests approved, new employees onboarded, and questions regarding labor law answered. Without documented processes and without a delegation policy, many tasks are left undone or handled on the fly, with the risk of missed deadlines and violations of labor law.
How External Support Closes the Gap in a Legally Sound Manner
An external HR department is the ideal solution for this exact situation because it offers flexibility in terms of time: It can take over for the duration of parental leave without requiring you to create a permanent position that would later have to be eliminated.
At DIGIVI, we typically take over day-to-day HR tasks in such cases within one to two weeks: contract management, payroll support, onboarding assistance, and communication with your employees. Because a well-coordinated team—rather than a single person—takes on these tasks, there is no longer any risk of downtime, even during this transition phase.
Checklist: How to Prepare as Management
- As soon as you receive notification of parental leave, start planning for a replacement right away—don't wait until just before it begins.
- Have existing processes (onboarding, contract templates, vacation policies) documented before the person with that knowledge leaves.
- Determine whether a temporary internal solution or an external, flexible solution is a better fit.
- Establish clear responsibilities for the transition period, including designated points of contact for employees.
- Consider return-to-work discussions and possible part-time arrangements early on to ensure that the return to work goes smoothly as well.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Parental Leave Replacements in the HR Department
How far in advance must parental leave be requested?
Seven weeks before the start date, if parental leave begins before the child's third birthday. If it begins later, between the child's third and eighth birthdays, the period is 13 weeks.
What happens when a company's only HR employee goes on parental leave?
Without a plan for coverage, tasks such as contract management, onboarding, and labor law issues are left undone or handled on an ad hoc basis. A temporary external solution can fill this gap without the need to create a new permanent position.
Is it required by law to have a substitute during parental leave?
No, there is no legal requirement for representation. However, from both a practical and legal standpoint, having a formal representation arrangement is strongly recommended for companies with only one HR professional.
Can an external HR department be hired just for the duration of parental leave?
Yes. That's one of the advantages over hiring a new employee: The scope of the position can be adjusted on a temporary and flexible basis to match the duration of parental leave.
If your sole HR contact is about to go on parental leave: Let’s work together—with no obligation—to see how we can bridge the transition period in a legally compliant manner.
