Frankfurt Kita Closed? Three Different Rulebooks Can Decide Whether You Get Paid
There's no Frankfurt-only law here, and no Hessen-only law either. The federal rules that matter here, Paragraph 616 BGB and Paragraph 56 IfSG, apply the same way in every German city. What genuinely changes the answer in Frankfurt is which of three separate employment frameworks reaches you, and Hessen is unusual among German states in a way that matters here: it left the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Laender in 2004 and has run its own standalone collective agreement, TV-H, ever since, it is the only German Land that does this. Work for a private company, and Paragraph 616 BGB is your starting point, a vague, court-shaped entitlement to a handful of paid days for a closure nobody could have foreseen, one that plenty of employment contracts exclude outright. Work directly for the Land Hessen government, for example at Goethe University or a Regierungspraesidium office, both with a real presence in Frankfurt, and TV-H Paragraph 29 applies instead of TV-L, its own closed, itemized list: up to four paid days a year if your child hasn't turned 12 and is genuinely sick with no Kinderkrankengeld claim available, plus up to four more if your regular caregiver falls through and your child hasn't turned 8, the two capped together at five days a year. Work for the City of Frankfurt itself, in a role like Kita Frankfurt staff or general city administration, and the separate TVoeD agreement applies, built on essentially the same four-plus-four, five-day structure. None of these three frameworks was ever built to cover a closure date your own Kita already told you about, that's an annual-leave question, not a leave-request one. If a closure is ordered by the health authorities instead, the special pay compensation in Paragraph 56 Absatz 1a IfSG only applies while the Bundestag has declared an epidemic situation of national significance (or, for COVID-19 measures, until 23 September 2022), so today an official closure order does not by itself create a standing statutory claim for lost pay, and you fall back on the same frameworks or on annual leave.
Three Employers, Three Rulebooks
Ask a Frankfurt parent whether a closed Kita means paid time off work, and the honest answer starts with a question of its own: who exactly signs your paycheck? Not because Frankfurt or even Hessen passed its own childcare-leave law, neither has, but because Hessen genuinely does things differently from every other German state on the employment-framework side, and Frankfurt’s own labor market sits right at the intersection of it.
Hessen is the only German Land that runs its own, separate collective agreement for public-sector employees. Every other state applies TV-L, the shared agreement negotiated through the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Laender (TdL). Hessen withdrew from the TdL back in 2004, dissatisfied with the direction the other states were taking, and has negotiated its own agreement, TV-H, ever since. That single fact means most general German-language guidance on this topic, written assuming TV-L covers every state employee, simply doesn’t describe Frankfurt correctly for a real share of its workforce.
| Your employer | Framework that applies | Example in Frankfurt |
|---|---|---|
| Private company | Paragraph 616 BGB (vague, court-shaped, easily excluded by contract) | Banks, law firms, most private employers |
| Land Hessen itself | TV-H Paragraph 29 (Hessen's own agreement, not TV-L) | Goethe University, a Regierungspraesidium office |
| City of Frankfurt | TVoeD Paragraph 29 (municipal agreement, same 4+4/5-day shape) | Kita Frankfurt staff, general Stadtverwaltung roles |
Path One: A Private Employer, and Paragraph 616 BGB’s Vague Default
If you work for a private company, Paragraph 616 BGB is where this starts. The statute lets an employee keep their pay for a “verhaeltnismaessig nicht erhebliche Zeit,” a proportionally not insignificant stretch, while a personal circumstance beyond their control stops them working, and a genuinely unforeseen Kita closure is a textbook fit for that language.
What the law doesn’t do is name a number. Courts weigh each case on its own facts, and legal commentary on this consistently clusters around a handful of days, not anything longer. Two further limits matter as much as the day count. First, this only ever reaches a closure nobody saw coming, an announced Schliesstag on your own Kita’s calendar doesn’t qualify. Second, a large share of German employment contracts and Tarifvertraege exclude Paragraph 616 BGB by name, precisely because employers don’t want an open-ended obligation a judge might interpret generously.
Path Two: Land Hessen Itself, and TV-H’s Own Itemized List
This is where Frankfurt’s specific position as Hessen’s largest city genuinely matters. The state’s own workforce, including at institutions with a substantial Frankfurt presence like Goethe University and a Regierungspraesidium office, doesn’t fall back on TV-L the way an equivalent employee in Berlin, Munich, or Hamburg would. TV-H Paragraph 29 sets out its own closed, itemized list of paid-leave reasons, built on essentially the same shape as TV-L’s own clause but as a legally separate text.
| Situation | Who qualifies | Paid days available |
|---|---|---|
| Child is sick, no Kinderkrankengeld claim exists that year | Child under 12 | Up to 4 workdays/year |
| Regular caregiver becomes unavailable | Child under 8, or permanently care-dependent due to disability | Up to 4 workdays/year |
| Combined cap across both categories above | 5 workdays/year, not 8 | |
| Any other genuinely urgent case, employer's discretion | Any TV-H-covered employee | Up to 3 further workdays |
Photo via Pexels
Both entitlements come with the same real condition attached: they apply only to the extent no one else could step in right away, and a doctor generally has to certify the need. That’s a genuinely higher bar than it sounds, an employer can reasonably ask whether a partner’s schedule or a grandparent nearby could have covered the gap first.
Path Three: The City of Frankfurt Itself, and TVoeD
A large share of Frankfurt’s own public-facing childcare workforce, Kita Frankfurt staff among them, works not for Land Hessen but for the city itself, and municipal employers generally apply a third framework: TVoeD (Tarifvertrag fuer den oeffentlichen Dienst), the agreement covering federal and municipal public-sector employees nationwide. TVoeD’s own Paragraph 29 carries essentially the same four-plus-four, five-day-combined-cap structure as TV-H, again requiring that no one else could step in and, for a sick child specifically, that no Kinderkrankengeld claim is available that year.
The practical upshot for a Frankfurt newcomer: knowing your own employer’s actual legal identity, a private company, Land Hessen, or the City of Frankfurt, matters more here than in a state that only has to distinguish private-sector from one shared public-sector agreement.
Either Way: An Announced Closure Day Is an Annual-Leave Question
Strip away the employer-type distinction and one thing stays constant across all three paths: none of them was ever meant to cover a Schliesstag your own Kita already told you about. Our companion Ferien-Notbetreuung guide covers what your Kita and, if that falls short, the Jugendamt owe you in terms of actual substitute childcare for those dates. That’s a question about care.
This page is about a separate question, whether you personally get paid time away from work for the same date, and for anything already on a published calendar, the practical answer sits with the Bundesurlaubsgesetz instead of any of the three leave-request frameworks above. German law guarantees a minimum of 24 Werktage of annual leave, 20 days in an ordinary five-day working week, and Paragraph 7 BUrlG requires your employer to weigh your own scheduling preferences, though urgent operational needs or a colleague’s competing request can still take priority for a specific date.
If the Closure Is Officially Ordered, Check the Current Law First
There’s a fourth scenario worth knowing about, and older guidance often gets it wrong. Paragraph 56 IfSG provided compensation for working parents of children under 12 when authorities closed a childcare facility for infection control, but only while the Bundestag has declared an epidemic situation of national significance or, for COVID-19 measures, until 23 September 2022. Today neither applies, so an official closure order does not by itself create a standing statutory claim for lost pay. In practice you fall back on the three frameworks above, on annual leave, or on a voluntary arrangement with your employer. When the compensation did apply, it paid full lost earnings for the first six weeks and then 67 percent up to a monthly ceiling, for up to 10 weeks a year (20 for single parents), which is exactly why it is worth checking the current text if a new epidemic situation is ever declared.
What to Watch For
The most useful move is working out which of the three frameworks applies before there is a real gap to argue about, since the answer isn’t obvious from a job title alone. University staff, for instance, can sit under more than one contract type depending on funding source, so ask HR which agreement covers your role. On the private-sector side, check a new employment contract’s Freistellung or Verhinderung clause at the point of signing, not months later during an actual closure.
Step by Step
- Work out which of the three frameworks you're actually under first. Private contract, Paragraph 616 BGB. Land Hessen employer, TV-H Paragraph 29. City of Frankfurt employer, TVoeD Paragraph 29.
- If you're on Paragraph 616 BGB, read your own contract's Freistellung or Verhinderung clause now, not during an active closure, since an exclusion clause is common and changes everything.
- If you're on TV-H or TVoeD, check whether your situation fits the itemized list, a sick child under 12 with no Kinderkrankengeld claim, or a caregiver genuinely falling through for a child under 8, and be ready to show no one else could step in immediately.
- For any date already on your Kita's published closure calendar, treat it as an annual-leave question, book Urlaub or arrange care in advance rather than expecting any of the three frameworks to cover it.
- If the closure is an official health order rather than your Kita's own schedule, check whether Paragraph 56 IfSG currently applies, it needs a Bundestag-declared epidemic situation, and otherwise treat it like any other unforeseen closure under your employer's framework or use annual leave.
Compliance Note
This page maps out how Paragraph 616 BGB, TV-H, TVoeD, the Bundesurlaubsgesetz, and Paragraph 56 IfSG relate to one another, it doesn’t replace individual legal counsel. Whether any single piece of it actually reaches your situation depends on details only your own paperwork can answer, your contract’s exact wording, which agreement genuinely covers your job, and the specific facts behind a given closure. A genuine dispute with an employer is best handled by a labor-law specialist or, if your workplace has one, your Betriebsrat or Personalrat.
FAQ & Common Pitfalls
I work for a small private company in Frankfurt. Does Paragraph 616 BGB actually give us anything solid?
Something, but not much you can plan around. Paragraph 616 BGB lets an employee keep their pay for a proportionally not insignificant time when a personal circumstance, through no fault of their own, stops them working, and a genuinely surprise Kita closure fits that description. The catch is the statute names no day count at all, courts decide case by case, and legal explainers on this consistently land on a range of a handful of days rather than anything longer. On top of that, a large share of German employment contracts and works agreements exclude Paragraph 616 BGB outright, specifically because employers don't want an open-ended, judge-decided obligation sitting in the contract. Read your own Verhinderung or Freistellung clause before assuming the statutory default reaches you.
My employer is Land Hessen, not the City of Frankfurt. Why does that matter so much here specifically?
Because Hessen genuinely is an outlier among German states on this point. Every other German Land applies TV-L, the same collective agreement, but Hessen withdrew from the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Laender back in 2004 and has negotiated its own separate agreement, TV-H, ever since. If your employer is Land Hessen itself, for instance Goethe University or a Regierungspraesidium office, both genuinely present in Frankfurt, TV-H Paragraph 29 is what applies to you, not TV-L. The structure is similar in shape to TV-L's own childcare clause, but it is a legally distinct text, and general German guidance that assumes TV-L applies to every public-sector worker simply doesn't fit your situation.
What about a job with the City of Frankfurt itself, like Kita Frankfurt staff or general Stadtverwaltung roles?
That's a third, separate track from both of the above. Municipal employers like the City of Frankfurt generally apply TVoeD (Tarifvertrag fuer den oeffentlichen Dienst), not TV-H, since TV-H specifically covers Land Hessen's own workforce rather than municipal employees. TVoeD's Paragraph 29 carries essentially the same shape as TV-H and TV-L: up to four paid days a year for a sick child under 12 with no Kinderkrankengeld claim, up to four more if a regular caregiver falls through for a child under 8, the two capped together at five days a year, and both conditioned on no one else being available to step in.
Our Kita's closure days are already on the calendar we got at enrollment. Does anything here actually apply to them?
Generally not, and this holds regardless of which of the three frameworks covers your employment. Every version of this rule, whether it's the vague Paragraph 616 BGB or the itemized TV-H or TVoeD catalog, was built around a genuinely unforeseen circumstance. A date already sitting on your Kita's published closure calendar stopped being unforeseen the moment it was announced. Our companion Ferien-Notbetreuung guide covers what your Kita and, as a backstop, the Jugendamt owe you in terms of actual substitute care for those days. This page is about a separate question, whether you personally get paid time off work, and for an announced date, the honest answer is to book annual leave or arrange care in advance.
Our Kita was shut down by an official health order, not its usual closure schedule. Does any of this employer distinction still matter?
Yes, it still matters, and this is where older guidance can mislead. During COVID-19, Paragraph 56 Absatz 1a IfSG gave working parents of children under 12 compensation when authorities closed a Kita, but that provision only applies while the Bundestag has declared an epidemic situation of national significance or, for COVID-19 measures, until 23 September 2022. Neither is the case today, so an official closure order does not by itself trigger a standing statutory claim for lost pay. You are back to the frameworks above (Paragraph 616 BGB, TV-H, or TVoeD, each assuming the closure was unforeseen and no one else can step in), to annual leave, or to whatever your employer offers voluntarily. If a new epidemic situation is ever declared, the compensation rules would apply again, so check the current text of Paragraph 56 IfSG rather than relying on older guidance.
Can we just use our annual Urlaub to cover a closure day instead of arguing over which framework applies?
For an announced date, that's genuinely the most reliable option. The Bundesurlaubsgesetz sets a minimum of 24 Werktage a year, 20 days in a standard five-day week, and Paragraph 7 BUrlG requires an employer to consider your own preferences when scheduling it, though urgent operational needs or another colleague's competing claim can still override yours for a specific date. Once your Urlaub for the year is used up, unpaid leave is something an employer can grant at their own discretion but isn't obliged to, outside the narrow paid categories Paragraph 616 BGB, TV-H, or TVoeD already cover.