A recent reform has further enabled parents of children bom after June 2016 to make even more flexible use of the job protection provision: With the employer’s consent, they can use 12 months of the 36 month employment-protection period any time between the child’s third and eighth birthday. But, beyond the provisions of parental leave (Elternzeit) and family care leave (Pflegezeit and Familienpflegezeit), employees in Germany are not legally entitled to resume full-time work once their reduced working hours have been approved by their employer (see Chapter 3 for an international comparison of legal provisions). On average, full-time working mothers in Germany put in nearly 42 hours per week, outstripped only by Swiss and Austrian mothers with about 44 hours per week (Figure 4.6).