GERMANY MATERNITY PROTECTION

Special provisions for mothers and expectant mothers who are in an employment relationship , homeworkers or equated with homeworkers, but not for other persons treated in law as similar to an employee . They are codified in the 1968 Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz).

To enable protective measures to be taken, expectant mothers must inform their employer of their pregnancy and the expected date of their confinement, and the employer in turn must notify the appropriate authorities of the Labour Inspectorate. As a rule, expectant mothers are not required to make their pregnancy known before entering into employment.

Maternity protection comprises protection against hazards, job protection and protection of remuneration. Protection against hazards includes the obligations imposed on employers to adapt the workplace to the health needs of women before or shortly after their confinement, and not to allocate dangerous and physically arduous work to them, together with certain restrictions on their employment. During a period of six weeks prior to their confinement pregnant women are released from their obligation to perform work. After their confinement, mothers may not be employed for a period of at least eight weeks. If after this their capacity to work is still impaired, the employer must take this into account in the allocation of work. Nursing mothers must be granted the necessary time off for this purpose. After the protected period has ended, women have the choice of taking childcare leave and (if provided for by collective agreement) parental leave .

Job protection takes the form of an absolute ban on dismissal. Any termination of the employment relationship by the employer is invalid if the employer knew of the pregnancy at the time of dismissal or is informed of the pregnancy within two weeks of pronouncing dismissal. This ban on dismissal ends four months after the woman's confinement. Only in special cases where the employer is undergoing unusually severe difficulties is dismissal lawful as an exception, with the permission of the authorities.

Mothers must not suffer any financial disadvantage during pregnancy and the protected period. They are therefore entitled to be paid maternity pay equivalent to the average income earned prior to pregnancy irrespective of how much work is performed during this period, in so far as they are not entitled to be paid maternity allowance from statutory health insurance or the state authorities. Such an entitlement exists during the protected period (from six weeks before until eight or twelve weeks after the confinement), but is less than the normal average income. The employer is required to make up the difference. Mothers covered by statutory health insurance are also entitled to other maternity benefits, mainly health care.