6
Weeks before birth
Reviewed by a specialist on 19/10/2026
What health insurance do you have?
As an employee with your own statutory health insurance, you generally receive up to 13 € per calendar day from your health insurer during maternity protection periods. If your average net pay per calendar day is higher, your employer normally pays a top-up. Special rules apply to other work situations.
Your selection is not saved or sent anywhere. It does not replace an eligibility check by your health insurer or BAS.
How do you apply?
Before the birth, you need a certificate showing your expected due date. Employees with their own statutory health insurance apply to their health insurer; employees with private insurance or family cover apply to BAS. After the birth, submit the required birth certificate. Tell your employer to arrange the top-up. The responsible body will tell you which documents are still needed.
Which maternity protection periods apply?
8
Weeks after birth
Generally, 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after the birth. Before the birth, you may work if you choose; after the birth, working is prohibited. After premature or multiple births, the period is normally 12 weeks; if the child is diagnosed with a disability, an extension is possible on request. If the birth is early, unused days from before the birth are added.
Since June 2025, tiered protection periods apply: two weeks from the 13th week of pregnancy, six weeks from the 17th, and eight weeks from the 20th. You may expressly agree to work if you wish. Whether maternity benefits are paid, and which ones, still depends on insurance and employment.
Minijob: your own statutory insurance → health insurer; family cover or private insurance → check BAS eligibility, with a possible employer top-up. Self-employed: with statutory insurance, entitlement to sickness benefit is decisive; with private insurance, daily sickness allowance depends on the policy. ALG I (unemployment benefit): when the protection period starts, maternity benefit equal to ALG I is generally paid through the health insurer. Basic income support alone does not establish entitlement to maternity benefit; extra support during pregnancy and help with initial essentials may be relevant. Without employment, ALG I or a qualifying sickness benefit entitlement, there is no automatic entitlement.
Pregnancy does not automatically extend a fixed-term contract. If it ends during the protection period, the employer top-up generally ends too; further payments depend on your insurance. A work prohibition outside the protection periods is different: the employer may then pay maternity protection wages, not maternity benefit for the protection period.
Mutterschaftsgeld (maternity benefit) from a statutory health insurer and the employer top-up for the same child are offset against parental allowance for the period after birth. These months of the child's life count as basic parental allowance months for the mother. The one-off BAS payment of up to 210 €, however, is not offset against parental allowance. Other benefits and private insurance policies may have their own rules.
This is orientation, not legal advice. Please check the details at the official source.
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