Elternzeit and Elterngeld in Germany: Parental Leave and Job Protection Explained

For an employee in Germany who is expecting a child, or whose partner is, two separate but connected legal frameworks apply. Elternzeit is the unpaid, job protected leave that lets a parent step back from work to care for a child. Elterngeld is the state benefit paid during that time, administered independently of the employment relationship itself.

This page keeps its focus on the employment side: who can take Elternzeit, how far in advance the employer must be told, what protects the job during and around the leave, and how part time work fits in. It covers Elterngeld at overview depth, since the exact euro amount a household can draw depends on individual income history and is worked out case by case by the official Elterngeldrechner, not by a general explanation like this one.

Information last verified on 19 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Elternzeit: the right to leave and how long it can last

Under § 15 BEEG, an employee who lives with and personally cares for a child, including certain stepchildren and children in full time foster care, may take Elternzeit until the child's third birthday. Both parents can take Elternzeit at the same time, separately, or split between them in whatever combination suits the family.

A meaningful share of that entitlement does not have to be used early. Up to 24 months of the total Elternzeit allowance can instead be saved and taken between the child's third and eighth birthday, and this later portion exists as an entitlement without needing the employer's advance agreement. What differs for that later window is the notice period and a narrower objection right, both covered below.

Worked example. A parent takes 12 months of Elternzeit immediately after the child is born, then returns to work full time. Under § 15 Abs. 2 BEEG, that parent can still reserve part of the remaining allowance, for example 6 months, to use later, once the child starts school around age six or seven, rather than being forced to use the whole entitlement before the third birthday.

Notifying your employer: the deadlines that actually matter

§ 16 BEEG sets two different deadlines, and mixing them up is the most common practical mistake in this area. Leave starting before the child's third birthday must be requested in writing at least seven weeks before it begins. Leave starting between the third and eighth birthday needs thirteen weeks of notice instead.

When requesting leave for the period before the third birthday, the request must also state, in writing, which specific periods within the following two years the employee intends to use. Splitting Elternzeit into up to three separate blocks does not need the employer's consent; a further split beyond three blocks does.

For the later window between the third and eighth birthday, the employer can object to the timing within eight weeks of receiving the request, but only for urgent operational reasons. Where the employer stays silent past that window, the requested leave stands.

Worked example. An employee planning to start Elternzeit on the child's first birthday must submit the written request, including the planned schedule for the following two years, at least seven weeks before that date. Submitting it five weeks out, even in good faith, falls short of the statutory minimum, and the employer can push the requested start date back until the seven week rule is satisfied.

Dismissal protection during Elternzeit

§ 18 BEEG protects the job well before the leave itself starts. For leave beginning before the child's third birthday, dismissal is barred from as early as eight weeks before the requested start date. For leave beginning between the third and eighth birthday, that protected window widens to fourteen weeks before the start date. Protection then continues for the whole period actually spent on Elternzeit, including any part time work taken during it.

The only way around this protection is an exception granted in advance by the competent state labour protection authority, and only in narrowly defined cases such as the closure of the entire business. An employer cannot simply decide on its own that an exception applies.

This protection sits alongside, and follows on from, the separate maternity protection period under the Mutterschutzgesetz described further down this page, and it interacts with the general dismissal rules covered on dismissal by your employer.

Working part time during Elternzeit

Elternzeit does not require stepping away from work entirely. § 15 Abs. 4 BEEG allows work of up to 32 hours a week on average per month without ending the leave itself, and both parents can do this at the same time if they wish.

Two different routes get an employee there, and it is worth keeping them apart, because the automatic approval rule belongs to only one of them.

The first route is an informal request under § 15 Abs. 5 BEEG. The employer is required to respond within four weeks, and a refusal has to be reasoned in writing, but this route carries no rule that silence counts as consent.

The second route is the statutory claim under § 15 Abs. 6 and 7 BEEG, and that is where the deemed approval sits: if the employer does not reject the request in writing on urgent operational grounds within four weeks for the period before the third birthday, or eight weeks for the later period, the reduction is treated as agreed. That statutory claim applies where three conditions are all met: the employer regularly has more than 15 employees, the employee has worked there for more than six months without interruption, and the reduced schedule sits between 15 and 32 hours a week for at least two months. That request follows the same seven week or thirteen week notice as full Elternzeit itself.

Worked example. An employee at a 40 person company who has worked there for two years asks to reduce to 24 hours a week during Elternzeit taken before the child's third birthday. All three conditions in § 15 Abs. 6 BEEG are met, so the reduction is a statutory claim rather than a discretionary favour, and the employer has four weeks to object on urgent operational grounds before the request is treated as granted.

Returning to work, and what happens to accrued leave

Elternzeit does not end the employment relationship, and an employee returning from it generally comes back to the same or an equivalent role on the same contract. Practical planning, such as agreeing a return date and any ongoing reduced hours, is worth doing well before the leave ends rather than at the last moment.

Annual leave is affected in a specific, limited way. § 17 BEEG lets the employer reduce paid annual leave by one twelfth for each full calendar month spent on Elternzeit, but only for months where the employee is not also working part time. Any vacation days already earned but not taken before Elternzeit began still have to be granted afterward, in the same year or the following one, and must be paid out instead if the employment ends during or right after the leave. See vacation entitlement for how the underlying accrual works outside of Elternzeit.

Elterngeld: what the benefit covers

Elterngeld is paid by the state, not the employer, and is administered by the regional Elterngeldstelle rather than through payroll. § 2 BEEG sets the core formula: it replaces a share of net income lost after the birth, generally 67 percent of pre birth net monthly income, rising toward 100 percent for lower incomes below EUR 1,000 a month and stepping down to a floor of 65 percent for pre birth net income above roughly EUR 1,240 a month. The paid amount is capped at EUR 1,800 a month and never falls below EUR 300, even where the parent had no income before the birth.

Worked example. A parent with net pre birth income of EUR 2,500 a month sits above the point where the sliding scale bottoms out, so the replacement rate is the 65 percent floor. Basiselterngeld in that case works out to roughly EUR 1,625 a month, comfortably inside the EUR 300 to EUR 1,800 range.

Basiselterngeld is paid for up to 12 months combined between both parents under § 4 BEEG, extending to 14 months where a second parent takes at least two of those months, commonly called Partnermonate. A parent with sole custody and sole earning responsibility can generally draw the full 14 months alone. ElterngeldPlus stretches the same money further: each month of Basiselterngeld can be swapped for two months of ElterngeldPlus at roughly half the monthly amount, which suits a parent who returns to part time work during the benefit period rather than staying off work entirely.

A Partnerschaftsbonus of up to four extra ElterngeldPlus months per parent is available under § 4b BEEG where both parents work between 24 and 32 hours a week at the same time, in blocks of at least two consecutive months. Single parents and separated co-parents can also access this bonus on their own.

Since 1 April 2024, both parents can generally draw Basiselterngeld together for only one month within the child's first twelve months, rather than overlapping their months freely as before. Families dealing with a premature birth of at least six weeks, a multiple birth, or a confirmed disability in the child sit outside that one month restriction.

The income cap: a two stage rule, gated on the child's birth date

Elterngeld eligibility carries a combined taxable income ceiling, and it has stepped down twice in quick succession, so the figure that applies depends entirely on when the child is born, not on when the application is filed.

The figure tested is zu versteuerndes Einkommen, taxable income for the calendar year before the birth, which is meaningfully lower than gross salary. A household can sit well above these numbers in gross pay and still fall under the current cap once deductions are applied.

Worked example. A couple with combined taxable income of EUR 180,000 the year before the birth falls under the EUR 200,000 cap for a child born on 15 March 2025, so Elterngeld is available in principle. The same couple, with the same income, has a second child born on 15 April 2025 instead: that birth falls under the EUR 175,000 cap, so the household's income now exceeds the applicable threshold and Elterngeld is not available for that child. A four week difference in the birth date is the only thing that changes the outcome.

Where Mutterschutz ends and Elternzeit begins

Maternity protection under the Mutterschutzgesetz runs on its own separate timeline from Elternzeit and generally comes first. § 3 MuSchG bars the employer from employing the mother during the six weeks before the expected birth date, unless she explicitly chooses to keep working, and again during the eight weeks after birth, when the prohibition is mandatory regardless of her wishes. That period extends to twelve weeks after a premature birth, a multiple birth, or where a disability in the child is medically confirmed within eight weeks of delivery.

Elternzeit can begin the moment the post birth Mutterschutz period ends for the mother, and a second parent, such as a father or a non birthing partner, can start Elternzeit from the child's first day since Mutterschutz never applied to them in the same way. Dismissal protection under § 17 MuSchG runs during pregnancy and the post birth Mutterschutz period, handing off directly to the § 18 BEEG protection described earlier once Elternzeit itself begins.

The rules above cover the employment relationship: the right to leave, the paperwork deadlines, the job protection and the return to work. For the underlying benefit calculation itself, the official Elterngeldrechner on familienportal.de is the right tool, since it accounts for exact income history in a way a general explanation cannot responsibly replicate. For how German employment law approaches other everyday questions, see German law explained.

Frequently asked questions