New Rules in Senior Part-Time since July 1, 2004.

Since its introduction in 1996 Senior Part-Time has served to facilitate a smooth transition from full employment to retirement. At the same time companies welcomed the opportunity to reduce their work forces elegantly without noise and without dismissals. One of the major advantages was the marginal loss in the amount of pension payments for the retired employee. However this would have been too expensive for the statutory pension insurance in the long run. Another disadvantage was the complicated calculation and procedure to obtain supporting funds from the government employment agency.

Therefore the rules, calculation and procedures to apply for Senior Part-Time have been totally remodeled. The pension benefits have been reduced and the age for entering retirement after Senior Part-Time has been raised. Fewer employees will be able to follow this route.

While on Senior Part-Time employees often receive approximately the same amount of money as in the old model. The regulations are still complicated, but easier than before.

Calculation basis for the 20 % support funds is no longer the salary actually paid-out, but a standard salary without consideration of non-recurring payments. Up to now pension contributions were marked up to an equivalent of 90 % of the full-time salary. This has been lowered to 80 %.

There have been and there still are certain limits for employees earning close to or above the maximum assessible income defined each year. Numerous institutions provide calculation schemes especially for this complicated system.