Overview
- MIT proposes limiting the statutory right to reduced hours to childcare, caregiving or training, with non‑justified part-time lacking the current legal return‑to‑full‑time guarantee.
- The paper suggests certain benefits such as basic income support, child supplement and housing allowance should apply to part-time only when a special reason exists.
- The plan is an internal motion for the CDU’s late‑February party congress in Stuttgart, not a government bill, and passage is uncertain given visible dissent.
- CDU figures including social‑wing leader Dennis Radtke and Rhineland‑Palatinate’s Gordon Schnieder criticized the idea as misguided, while CSU leader Markus Söder rejected curbing rights in favor of incentives; an Eon executive also warned against pressuring staff to work more hours.
- Supporters cite a severe skills shortage and high part‑time rates, though data and causes are contested, with official figures ranging from about 29% (2024) to roughly 40% (2025) and experts noting most part‑time work is linked to care duties under a legal framework that grants requests after six months in firms with more than 15 employees unless operational reasons apply.