Maternity protection
The term maternity protection refers to special protection for employees who are pregnant, breastfeeding or have just given birth.
Maternity protection definition
Mothers and children are protected, both before and after the birth.
This includes the following aspects:
- Protecting health in the workplace
- Special protection against dismissal
- Employment ban in the weeks before & after the birth
- Securing income during the employment ban
Maternity protection only applies to pregnant or breastfeeding women. For this reason, there is no maternity protection for adoptive mothers. This is regulated in the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG): The law for the protection of mothers at work, in training as well as during studies.
Protection is therefore also available for pupils, students, trainees and during the probationary period.
The maternity protection period
In general, the maternity protection period begins 6 weeks before the expected date of birth and 8 weeks after the birth.
If the child is born after the expected date, maternity leave still lasts a total of 14 weeks. It then ends as many days later as the child was born after the expected date.
In the event of a premature birth (e.g. if the child weighs less than 2500 grams), maternity leave is extended from 8 to 12 weeks after the birth.
There is also a maternity protection period of 12 weeks if you are expecting twins, triplets or multiples or in the case of the birth of children with disabilities.
During the trial period
The Maternity Protection Act also applies to permanent employment with a probationary period and during the probationary period itself.
It is important to know that the probationary period is in no way extended by maternity leave. It is also not extended if the employment contract is only concluded for this period from the outset and then ends automatically. Incidentally, this is called a fixed-term probationary employment contract.
Pregnancy therefore has no effect on a fixed-term contract. If the agreed period ends, the fixed-term probationary employment relationship also ends with maternity protection.
Effects on vacation?
You may be wondering whether there is an effect on your vacation entitlement. But the following applies: The time during which you are not allowed to work due to a ban on employment is counted exactly as if you had worked during this period. This therefore applies both during maternity leave and for the period in which you were not allowed to work due to a ban on employment.
Maternity leave therefore has no effect on your leave entitlement.
Remaining vacation
If you still have remaining leave from the period before the employment ban, you have the option of carrying this over to the current or next leave year. If you take your parental leave immediately after the maternity protection period, there is no reason why you should not take the remaining leave after your parental leave.
Disclaimer
Please note that the texts on this website and the related contributions are provided for general informational purposes only and do not constitute tax or legal advice in the proper sense. For individual cases, we always recommend seeking specific legal advice tailored to the circumstances of the situation. The information is provided to the best of our knowledge and belief, without any guarantee of accuracy, completeness, or validity.
