In Austria, employees are entitled to a care exemption under certain conditions if they need to care for relatives or if a child’s regular caregiver is absent. Legally, a care exemption is defined as an absence from work for important personal reasons.
Note: The care exemption is also known colloquially as care leave. Employees can make use of a care exemption if a relative falls ill or they have to take care of a child.
From a legal perspective, care leave is classified as absence from work for important personal reasons. Employees can be granted one week of leave under a care exemption per year. In exceptional cases, this may be extended to up to two weeks.
In principle, employees must ensure that they are not prevented from working due to a need for care. If you take care leave, you also have to take care of the care or nursing. Care leave has been possible since 2023 to care for people in the same household. Close relatives do not have to have a shared household.
If you are unable to go to work because you need to care for a sick close relative or household member, you are entitled to paid care leave.
You must inform your employer as soon as possible if you are taking care leave. If your employer requires a medical certificate as proof, he will have to cover possible costs.
You will continue to be paid during your care leave. You will receive the same salary that you would have received without care leave.
You have a second week of care leave within a working year if the child not yet 12 years old is. The prerequisite is that you become ill again in need of care and you are not entitled to continued payment of wages for other important reasons.
If you are no longer entitled to care leave, you can take leave to care for close relatives and look after underage children. This Vacation is deducted from the normal vacation entitlement. The employer does not have to approve the vacation. However, you must inform him immediately in writing about the start and the expected duration of the vacation.
Important: If your annual vacation has already been used up, you can continue to take vacation days if necessary. However, this vacation is then unpaid.
You can get an overview of care leave in the video from the Chamber of Labor. Click on the following link:
If it is foreseeable that close relatives will need care over a longer period of time, there are options for agreeing part-time care leave or care leave with the employer.
Part-time care leave is an agreed reduction in normal weekly working hours in order to create time to care for close relatives.
Care leave is an agreed leave of absence from work for the period of caring for close relatives in return for loss of pay. In this case, family caregivers can apply for a care leave allowance to provide financial support.
You can find further information on the subject of care leave on the following websites:
Last updated: June 17, 2026