{"id":74902,"date":"2025-03-04T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auren.com\/de\/?post_type=blog&p=74902"},"modified":"2025-03-07T10:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T09:39:51","slug":"maternity-protection-and-parental-leave-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/auren.com\/de\/en\/blog\/maternity-protection-and-parental-leave-in-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Maternity Protection and Parental Leave in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Birgit Ennemoser<\/strong> (birgit.ennemoser@auren.de<\/mark><\/a>), Head of HR Services<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Germany, maternity protection (Mutterschutz) differs from parental leave (Elternzeit): Maternity protection ensures the highest possible level of health and social security for mothers and their babies before and after childbirth. In contrast, parental leave allows both parents to take a break from work after the birth of their child to care for their new family member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maternity protection period generally begins six weeks before the expected due date and ends 8 weeks after birth. If a child is born prematurely, the total maternity protection period still lasts 14 weeks. This means that it does not simply end 8 weeks after birth but is extended by the number of days the child was born before the due date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a child is born so early that it is medically classified as a premature birth – for example, if the newborn weighs less than 2,500 grams – the postnatal maternity protection period extends to 12 weeks.  This increases the total maternity protection period from 14 to 18 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protection period after birth is also extended to 12 weeks in the following cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n