More annual days of holiday for PhD students with funding agreement

Executive Board of Max Planck Society decides to increase vacation entitlement to 30 days

In it meeting on 21 March 2019, the Executive Board decided to increase the number of vacation days for doctoral candidates with a funding agreement. They now receive the same number of days as employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, i.e. 30 vacation days. This applies retroactively to 1 January 2019 for all current and future contracts.

With this step, the Max Planck Society goes well beyond the statutory minimum vacation leave of 20 days for doctoral candidates. "The increase in leave entitlement was an important concern of PhD students and has been increasingly demanded by their elected representatives in recent years," says MPG President Martin Stratmann. "After the funding body gave the go-ahead in November 2018, the implementation is an important step towards more equal opportunities and the compatibility of career and family for our young scientists."

In addition, the Board of Directors adopted a regulation that makes it possible to transfer untaken leave until December 31 of a subsequent entitlement year. Previously, this was only possible until March of the following year. A model grant agreement was also adopted. This contract is binding for all MPIs and replaces all previous model funding contracts for doctoral candidates in the Max Planck Society.