Parental leave

Elternzeit lets employees take time off work to care for a child. Elterngeld is a separate payment. To arrange leave, notify your employer: your child’s birth or adoption admission date determines how you give notice and how much you can work.

In short

• Elternzeit is unpaid leave until the child turns 3. Statutory maternity protection after the birth counts towards the mother’s three-year total and cannot itself be taken later. Up to 24 months of the remaining entitlement can be taken between the third and eighth birthdays. You cannot sign away this right. Apply for Elterngeld separately if you want the payment.
• Notify the employer at least seven weeks before leave taken before the child turns 3, and at least 13 weeks before leave between ages 3 and 8, unless an urgent reason shortens the notice. For the early period, name in the same request the stretches you will take inside two years.
• For a birth or adoptive admission from 1 May 2025, text form such as email is enough. For an earlier child, send a written notice with your handwritten signature. The work cap is generally 32 hours a week on average across the month, or 30 hours for a child born or admitted before 1 September 2021.
• During the leave, do not exceed the monthly average that applies to you. The childminding activity of a suitable childminder can be exempt; the conditions depend on the child’s birth or adoptive-admission date. Work for another employer, or self-employment, needs the employer’s consent. The employer can refuse only within four weeks, for urgent operational reasons, in the form required by the applicable version of the law.
• Section 15(7) gives a claim to reduce your own hours to an average of 15 to 32 a week across the month, or 15 to 30 for a child born or received for adoption before 1 September 2021, when the employer regularly has more than 15 employees, not counting vocational trainees, the job in that establishment or company has lasted more than six months without a break, the reduction lasts at least two months, and no urgent operational reasons oppose it. The request names the start and hours at least seven weeks before part-time that starts before the child turns 3, or 13 weeks before part-time between ages 3 and 8. For a child born or received for adoption from 1 May 2025, text form is sufficient; for an earlier child, submit a signed written request. If the employer does not refuse in the required form, with reasons, within four weeks for leave under age 3, or within eight weeks for ages 3 to 8, consent is deemed granted.
• Employer dismissal is generally barred from the request, at the earliest eight weeks before leave before age 3 or 14 weeks before leave between ages 3 and 8, and throughout the leave. The competent Land authority may permit dismissal in a special case.
• Each parent can split the leave into three stretches. More stretches need the employer’s agreement. The employer can refuse a third stretch between ages 3 and 8, within eight weeks, for urgent operational reasons.

What you need to know

Section 28 preserves earlier versions of the law for earlier births or admissions with the aim of adoption. The current text-form rule below applies from 1 May 2025. For earlier children, use a written notice with your handwritten signature for both parental leave and a part-time reduction request; an ordinary email is not sufficient.

For children born or admitted before 1 September 2021, the weekly working-hours cap is 30 rather than 32, averaged over the month. Check the applicable version before relying on the current rules below.

Section 15 (2) says the claim lasts until the child turns 3. Up to 24 months of it can be taken between the third birthday and the eighth birthday.

Section 15(2) sentence 3 counts statutory maternity protection after the birth, the Mutterschutz periods in section 3(2) and (3) of the Maternity Protection Act, against the mother’s overall entitlement. The protection period itself cannot be taken after the third birthday; up to 24 months of the remaining entitlement can be taken between ages 3 and 8.

Each child gives a claim, even if the periods overlap. For an adopted child or a child in full-time or adoptive foster care, up to three years can be taken from the day the child joins the household, and at the latest until the child turns 8. The claim cannot be signed away in a contract.

During the leave the ordinary work limit is 32 hours a week on average in the month. For a child born or received for adoption from 1 May 2025, section 15(4) exempts the activity of a suitable childminder under sections 23 and 43 of Book VIII of the Social Code. For an earlier birth or admission, section 28 preserves the earlier version, under which the exception covers care for at most five children.

The separate Elterngeld exception for vocational-training employment does not itself exempt paid training from the leave limit: section 20(1) preserves it. Check which rules apply to other work.

Working part-time for another employer, or working self-employed, needs the employer’s consent. The employer can refuse only within four weeks, for urgent operational reasons, in the form required by the applicable version.

Section 15(7) is the enforceable claim to reduce your existing hours to an average of 15 to 32 a week, or 15 to 30 for a child born or received for adoption before 1 September 2021.

It applies when the employer regularly has more than 15 employees, not counting people in vocational training, the employment in the same establishment or company has lasted more than six months without interruption, the reduction lasts at least two months, and no urgent operational reasons oppose it.

You state the start and the weekly hours at least seven weeks before the part-time begins, for leave before the child turns 3, or at least 13 weeks before, for ages 3 to 8, using the form required for the child’s birth or adoptive-admission date.

If the employer does not refuse the reduction in the required form, with reasons, within four weeks of the request arriving for leave under age 3, or within eight weeks for ages 3 to 8, consent is deemed granted and the hours are fixed as you asked.

Under the current version of section 16, you notify your employer of the leave in text form; the earlier signed-writing rule is described above. Give notice at least seven weeks before leave that starts before the child turns 3, or at least 13 weeks before leave between the third and eighth birthdays. For the early period, say at the same time which stretches you will take within two years. Urgent reasons can shorten the notice.

Each parent can split the leave into three stretches. More stretches need the employer’s agreement. The employer can refuse a third stretch that falls between ages 3 and 8, within eight weeks, for urgent operational reasons. The employer certifies the leave. If you change employer, the new one can ask for the previous certificate.

Section 18 protects against employer dismissal from the request, but at the earliest eight weeks before leave before the child turns 3, or 14 weeks before leave between the third and eighth birthdays. The protection continues throughout Elternzeit. The competent Land authority can exceptionally permit dismissal in a special case.

Ending the leave early, or extending it, generally needs consent. The section lists cases, including the birth of another child and severe hardship, where refusal is limited. If the child dies during the leave, the leave ends at the latest three weeks after the death.

What to do

1. Decide which parent takes which months, and whether any months sit after the third birthday. Put the early stretches, inside two years, in the same request.
2. Notify the employer at least seven weeks before leave taken before the child turns 3, or thirteen weeks before later leave. For a birth or adoptive admission from 1 May 2025, text form such as email is sufficient. For an earlier child, send a letter with your handwritten signature. Keep a copy and proof that it arrived.
3. If you will work during the leave, observe the applicable average of 32 hours a week across the month, or 30 for a child born or admitted before 1 September 2021, unless the childminding exception described above applies. Obtain the employer’s consent before working for someone else or starting a business, using the form required by the applicable version of the law.
4. Apply separately for Elterngeld if you want the payment. You also need a separate application for a Kita place.

Common mistakes

• Expecting full salary during Elternzeit. The leave is unpaid; see the Elterngeld guide for the separate payment.
• Splitting the leave into four stretches without consent. Section 16 allows three unless the employer agrees to more.
• Working beyond the applicable monthly average without checking the rules: 32 hours a week, or 30 for a child born or admitted before 1 September 2021, subject to the childminding exception above.