Germany: maternity protection, periods, pay and dismissal protection

Who is protected and when to say it

Maternity protection applies to pregnant and breastfeeding women in employment, also part-time, in a mini-job, in training or on a fixed term. Not covered are only the self-employed, housewives and managing directors with an organ position; civil servants have their own regulation.

You should tell your employer about the pregnancy and the expected due date as soon as you know (§ 15 MuSchG). The earlier it knows, the earlier it can adapt your workplace.

The protection periods before and after the birth

In the last six weeks before the birth the employer may not employ you unless you expressly declare yourself willing; you can revoke the declaration for the future at any time. The expected delivery date on the certificate counts. If the child does not arrive on the date, the protection period before it shortens or lengthens accordingly (§ 3 para. 1 MuSchG).

After the birth an absolute employment ban applies for eight weeks. It is twelve weeks for premature births (about under 2,500 grams of birth weight), multiple births and, only on your request, if a disability is medically established in the child within eight weeks. If the child comes earlier, the unused days from before the birth are added at the end: in total it stays at 14 weeks, at 18 with twelve weeks afterward (§ 3 para. 2 MuSchG).

For a miscarriage from the 13th week of pregnancy there have been separate protection periods since June 1, 2025: two weeks, from the 17th week six, from the 20th eight; you can expressly waive them (§ 3 para. 5). After the child’s death you may, if you wish and with a medical certificate, return to work after only two weeks (§ 3 para. 4).

Maternity allowance and the employer’s supplement

For the protection periods and the day of delivery you get maternity allowance. If you are yourself a member of a statutory health insurance fund, it pays your net per calendar day, at most €13 (§ 24i para. 2 SGB V, § 19 para. 1 MuSchG). If you earn more than €13 net a day, that is more than €390 a month, the employer pays the difference as a supplement (§ 20 MuSchG). Together you get your previous net.

The net per day is the sum of the net of the last three settled calendar months before the protection period, divided by 90 days. The ministry’s example: €975 net a month is €2,925 in three months, so €32.50 a day, of which €13 from the fund and €19.50 from the employer. One-off payments such as Christmas pay do not count (§ 21 MuSchG).

Claim the maternity allowance from the health insurance fund as soon as you have the certificate of the expected delivery date; after the birth, send the birth certificate. You then claim the supplement from the employer.

Private insurance, family insurance, mini-job

Whoever is not herself a member of a statutory fund but has private insurance or family insurance through someone else gets the maternity allowance from the Federal Office for Social Security: in one sum and at most €210 in total (§ 19 para. 2 MuSchG). A condition is an employment relationship, such as a mini-job. The employer pays the supplement all the same; at €2,400 net a month, about €1,077 is missing compared with the previous net.

With a private daily sickness allowance insurance, it pays the agreed daily allowance as far as you would otherwise get no adequate replacement (§ 192 para. 5 VVG). Whoever is herself a member of a fund, for example as a student, gets the maternity allowance from the fund even in a mini-job.

Taxes and Elterngeld

Maternity allowance and supplement are tax-free (§ 3 no. 1 EStG), but through the progression clause they raise the tax rate on your other income (§ 32b EStG). If you receive more than €410 a year in such benefits, you must file a tax return (§ 46 para. 2 no. 1 EStG).

On Elterngeld, the health insurance fund’s maternity allowance and the supplement for the time from the birth are offset, the Federal Office’s maternity allowance is not (§ 3 para. 1 no. 1 BEEG). Months of the child’s life in which such benefits are due count as months with basic Elterngeld (§ 4 para. 4 BEEG): that usually concerns the first two months of life.

Dismissal protection and employment ban

The employer may not dismiss you: during pregnancy, until four months after a miscarriage after the twelfth week and until the end of the protection period after the birth, but at least four months after delivery (§ 17 para. 1 MuSchG). This applies if it knew or you tell it within two weeks of receipt of the dismissal. Only the state authority allows exceptions. Against a dismissal you must as a rule sue at the labor court within three weeks of receipt (§ 4 KSchG).

If the employer may not employ you, or only partly, outside the protection periods because of a medical employment ban (§ 16 MuSchG), it pays maternity pay (Mutterschutzlohn): the average earnings of the three months before the pregnancy (§ 18 MuSchG).