BERLIN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The proposed legislation to grant employees the right to transfer back to full-time employment has been aborted, German Federal Minister of Labour Andrea Nahles from the Social Democratic Party of Germany(SPD) announced here on Tuesday.
"The Office of the Federal Chancellor has informed me that they no longer plan to discuss the bill in cabinet," Nahles said.
The legislation would have given German employees the right to reduce their working hours for a limited period of time and would then be able to return to their normal working hours.
The bill, as proposed by Nahles, would have covered companies with 15 or more employees, however the coalition partners of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) demanded a 200-employee minimum.
Since this threshold would exclude over three million part-time employees, Nahles subsequently accused the CDU of a breach in their coalition agreement concerning the employment bill.
The response of the CDU is not available now.
The SPD had hoped that the new employment bill would especially help women that require part-time hours for a fixed amount of time from their full-time jobs.
Nahles also added that she found the news "disappointing" and believed that the pressure from German employers could also be one of reasons the cause lost momentum and interest.
