Maternity protection: the start and end of the protection period
Six weeks before the due date, eight after it, and with a premature birth everything shifts. The periods hang on a date that can change.
Your entries
From the medical certificate. It determines the start of the protection period.
Leave empty as long as the child has not arrived.
A premature birth and multiple births extend the period after the birth to twelve weeks.
Result
In the six weeks before the birth work is allowed if the pregnant employee expressly agrees to it; that agreement can be withdrawn at any time. After the birth an absolute employment ban applies, which nobody can waive.
If a disability is diagnosed in the child before the eight weeks are up, the period is likewise extended to twelve weeks on request (section 3 (2) MuSchG).
The holiday entitlement remains fully intact: time lost due to an employment ban counts as time worked under section 24 MuSchG. Leave not taken can be taken after the protection period in the current or the following calendar year.
Calculation
- Start = 12.05.2027 − 42 days = 31.03.2027
- Birth errechnet: 12.05.2027
- End = 12.05.2027 + 56 days = 07.07.2027
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How it is calculated
Six weeks before, eight weeks after
Under section 3(1) MuSchG, no work may be performed in the last six weeks before the birth unless the pregnant employee expressly declares herself willing to; that declaration can be revoked at any time.
After the birth, an absolute ban on employment applies for eight weeks (section 3(2) MuSchG). It cannot be waived, not even on request.
The basis of the calculation is the **calculated** due date from the medical certificate. If the birth shifts, the start of the protection period does not shift retroactively.
Twelve weeks instead of eight
The period after the birth extends to twelve weeks for premature births, for multiple births and, on application, where a disability is diagnosed in the child before eight weeks have elapsed (section 3(2) MuSchG).
If the child arrives before the calculated due date, the period after the birth is additionally extended by the days that could not be taken beforehand. The protection of fourteen weeks in total is thereby preserved.
What applies alongside
During the protection periods, the health insurer pays maternity benefit, and the business tops it up to the previous net pay under section 20 MuSchG.
The leave entitlement remains: time lost due to a ban on employment counts as time worked under section 24 MuSchG, so the leave is not reduced and can be taken after the protection period in the current or the following year.
Protection against dismissal under section 17 MuSchG runs from the start of the pregnancy until four months after the birth, provided the business knows about the pregnancy or learns of it within two weeks of the notice of dismissal being received.
Calculating once takes a minute. MetronHR carries these accounts forward continuously, for every employee, and shows the balance at the month end.
Further reading:Sections 3, 15, 17, 20 and 24 MuSchG · Section 24 MuSchG (leave entitlement)
The calculator covers the basic statutory rules. Collective agreements, works agreements and employment contracts may contain more favourable arrangements, and for a specific case it is better to ask someone with a licence to practise.
Frequently asked questions
What we get asked about this most often.
Six weeks before the calculated due date. Anyone who wishes may keep working during those six weeks and can revoke the declaration at any time. After the birth, by contrast, employment is ruled out.
The period after the birth is extended by the days that could not be used before the birth. For a premature birth it is also twelve weeks instead of eight. Total protection of fourteen weeks is thereby preserved in every case.
No. Time lost due to a ban on employment under maternity protection law counts as time worked under section 24 MuSchG. Leave not taken can be taken after the end of the protection period in the current or the next calendar year.
There is no duty to; section 15 MuSchG says it should be done. Without the notification, though, the business cannot apply the protective provisions, and the special protection against dismissal only applies if the business knows about the pregnancy or learns of it within two weeks of a dismissal.
No, no working hours accrue. For the hours account that means the target time is dropped for those days instead of accumulating as negative hours. In MetronHR, the period is kept as an absence and taken out of the target time calculation.
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