Maternity leave contribution from the employer
In the Maternity Leave Act (MuSchG) financial support – maternity leave payment – for (expectant) mothers is regulated in order to ensure income maintenance, although gainful employment is prohibited for protective reasons.
The most important facts about the maternity leave contribution from the employer
- Pregnant women and mothers are subject to an employment prohibition (maternity leave) during the so-called protection periods before and after the birth of their child.
- During this period, employed mothers receive full net wage compensation (consists of the current maternity leave payment from the health insurance fund and the maternity leave contribution from the employer)
- Privately insurants may receive private daily sickness insurance benefits (depending on the insurance contract).
- Civil servants, judges, etc. receive their full remuneration from the employer during the protection periods.
- With our Maternity leave payment calculator you can calculate your entitlement quickly and easily
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Interaction of the maternity leave contribution from the employer and the current maternity leave payment.
Maternity leave payment is made by the public health insurance funds during the protection periods before and after childbirth and for the day of childbirth. Maternity leave payment from the public health insurance funds is only paid to members of the public health insurance funds who are voluntarily or compulsorily insured and who are entitled to payment of sickness compensation. Further prerequisites for receipt are:
- the mother must be in a work or home-based employment relationship during the protection periods, or
- the employer has permissibly terminated the employment relationship during the pregnancy, or
- the employment relationship does not begin until after the start of the protection period. In that case, the entitlement does not arise until the beginning of the employment relationship if the woman is a member of a public health insurance fund at that time.
Membership in a family insurance is therefore not sufficient. The amount of maternity leave payment is based on the average net pay, reduced by statutory deductions, of the last three fully accounted calendar months before the start of the maternity leave period. In the case of weekly payroll accounting, the last 13 weeks before the start of the protection period are used. The maternity leave payment from the health insurance fund amounts to a maximum of 13 euros per calendar day.
Example
Maternity leave begins on 14.05.2022. The statutory net income according to the pay checks in the three-month period before maternity leave is as follows:
Net earnings are added together and divided by 90 (calendar days) in a standard amount to determine a calendar day’s net pay:
7.016,- EUR / 90 calendar days = 77,96 EUR
Because the net pay per calendar day is more than EUR 13, the mother receives the maximum amount from the health insurance fund. The difference is paid by the employer as a so-called maternity leave contribution from the employer.
The maternity leave payment can be applied for at the earliest seven weeks before the presumed date of childbirth, as the relevant medical certificate may be issued at the earliest one week before the start of the protection period.
Calculation of the maternity leave contribution from the employer
As described in the example above, there may be the so-called maternity leave contribution from the employer. If the average net wage per calendar day exceeds the amount of 13 euros – this corresponds to a monthly net wage of 390 euros – the employer must pay the difference as a maternity leave contribution.
According to our example above, the employer thus pays EUR 64.96 per calendar day of maternity leave to the mother. The employer is reimbursed the entire employer contribution by the health insurance fund under the so-called U2 reimbursement procedure.
Tip:
Calculate the amount of your maternity leave payment entitlement quickly and easily with our free Maternity Leave Payment Calculator.
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