Maternity Leave

Work should not become a risk or a burden during this special time. Legal regulations help prevent discrimination, hazards, and health risks for (expectant) mothers and children. The law also protects against job loss and loss of income during and after pregnancy. 

Among other things, the Maternity Protection Act stipulates:

• Protection of health in the workplace
• Special protection against termination
• A prohibition on employment in the weeks before and after childbirth
• Income protection during the employment prohibition period

The provisions of the Maternity Protection Act apply to:

• Female employees working full-time, part-time, or in mini-jobs
• Women in company-based vocational training and female interns
• Women with disabilities who work in a workshop for people with disabilities
• Women working in development aid
• Women in the Youth Volunteer Service or Federal Volunteer Service
• Women who work from home
• Self-employed individuals in a worker-like status who are economically dependent on a client
• High school and college students, provided that the location, time, and schedule of their education are mandatorily prescribed

Maternity leave for civil servants, judges, and female military personnel is governed by separate legal provisions.

Maternity leave begins as soon as you become pregnant. It continues through childbirth and the breastfeeding period.

Our advice: To ensure your employer can implement the necessary protective measures right away, you should notify them of your pregnancy as early as possible. But of course, it’s entirely up to you to decide when you think is the best time to tell your boss.

Physically demanding or health-hazardous work is not suitable for you as a pregnant woman. Special restrictions apply in such cases. Maternity protection is designed to make it easier for you, as an expectant mother, to balance your work with the special demands of pregnancy. 

Your employer must assess the potential hazards for each task, taking into account their nature, extent, and duration. Regardless of whether an employee is currently pregnant or not, this assessment must also take into account risks to which a pregnant or breastfeeding woman or her (unborn) child may be exposed. This is known as the general risk assessment.

As soon as your employer learns that you are pregnant or breastfeeding, they must take a closer look. They must ensure that your health and the health of your (unborn) child are not put at risk. Only once individual protective measures have been established and so-called unacceptable risks have been eliminated may you continue to work. This is the individual risk assessment. 

If unmitigable hazards are identified during the risk assessments, your employer must implement protective measures in a specified order of priority and ensure consistent compliance:

1. Modification of your workstation

2. Change of workstation or reassignment to another reasonable workstation

3. Company-imposed employment prohibition

• Your employer must grant you time off work for prenatal checkups during pregnancy and for certain examinations after childbirth, provided that an appointment cannot be scheduled outside of working hours.
• Hazardous work, night shifts, piecework, and assembly-line work are off-limits to you.
• You have certain legal rights to have a say in the scheduling of your work hours. For example, as a pregnant or breastfeeding woman, you may only work on Sundays and holidays or until 10:00 p.m. if you expressly consent to it. Working after 10:00 p.m. is generally prohibited.
• Your maximum working hours may not exceed 8.5 hours per day and may not exceed 90 hours per two-week period.
• After the end of your work shift, you must be granted an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours.
• The employer must ensure that you can briefly interrupt your work at any time during your pregnancy, if necessary. Rest areas must be provided for breaks and work interruptions.
• If you are breastfeeding at work, you are legally entitled to breastfeeding breaks (time off) during the first 12 months, which do not count toward your working hours and do not result in a loss of pay. These breastfeeding breaks must be at least half an hour twice a day or one hour once a day. However, this time limit does not apply when health and safety are at risk. Your employer must therefore ensure—even for breastfeeding periods extending beyond 12 months—that the nature of your work poses no health risks to you or your child.
• You must be offered a meeting in advance to discuss adjustments to your working conditions.

From the start of your pregnancy until the end of the fourth month after giving birth, your employer is not permitted to terminate your employment. If you then take parental leave, you also cannot be terminated during that time. There are exceptions only in a few cases, such as when the business closes. In that case, your employer must submit an application to the responsible district government.

Protection against termination applies if the employer is aware of the pregnancy or is notified of it within 2 weeks of receiving the notice of termination.

However, you yourself have the right to terminate your employment at any time.

During the statutory maternity leave period, you are generally prohibited from working. 

• The maternity leave period begins 6 weeks before the estimated due date. You may not be required to work during this time. An exception applies if you expressly agree to perform work. You may revoke this declaration at any time.
• The maternity leave period ends 8 weeks after childbirth. In the case of a premature birth or multiple births, maternity leave is extended to 12 weeks after childbirth. This also applies if a disability is diagnosed in the newborn before the 8-week period expires and an extension of the maternity leave period has been requested.
• There are special provisions for situations such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or termination of pregnancy. Please read the information titled “Loss of a Child Due to Miscarriage, Premature Birth, or Early Death.”

After your maternity leave ends, you can return to your previous job or go directly on parental leave.

A miscarriage is a physically and emotionally distressing experience for the women affected. To give them time to recover, amendments to the Maternity Protection Act took effect on June 1, 2025. These amendments provide for a graduated period of protection based on the timing of the miscarriage. 

The further along the pregnancy was, the longer the entitlement to maternity leave:

• In the event of a miscarriage on or after the 13th week of pregnancy: up to 2 weeks of maternity leave
• In the event of a miscarriage on or after the 17th week of pregnancy: up to 6 weeks of maternity leave
• In the event of a miscarriage on or after the 20th week of pregnancy: up to 8 weeks of maternity protection

During these protection periods, women may generally not be required to work. An exception is permitted if the woman in question expressly agrees to work.