Planning and registering parental leave

You can plan your 3 years of parental leave flexibly, but you must meet certain requirements. You must give notice of your parental leave to your employer.

As a parent, you can take unpaid leave from work to care for and raise your child. This parental leave lasts up to 3 years. Between your child's 3rd and 8th birthday, you can take a maximum of 2 years of parental leave.

Both parents can take parental leave. You must register your parental leave informally and in good time with your employer. The employer must confirm your parental leave. You are free to choose the start date of your parental leave.

The maternity protection periods after the birth count as used parental leave, even if you do not take parental leave directly after the maternity protection period. The mother giving birth does not have to take parental leave during the maternity protection period. For the other parent, parental leave begins from the birth of the child at the earliest.

You can divide your parental leave into 3 periods or take it all at once. The decisive factor for the division is whether you take the parental leave or parts of the parental leave

• before the 3rd birthday or

• between the 3rd birthday and the 8th birthday

of your child.

If the third period is entirely after the third birthday, the employer may refuse this parental leave for urgent operational reasons.

If you register for parental leave within the first 3 years of your child's life, a commitment period of 2 years applies. During this period, you must make a binding declaration to your employer as to how you would like to take parental leave during these 2 years from the start of parental leave. If you only announce part of your parental leave during this commitment period, you will need your employer's consent for further parental leave during the commitment period.

You must register parental leave up to your 3rd birthday at least 7 weeks before the desired start date.

After the end of the commitment period, you can again freely dispose of your remaining parental leave. You must register your parental leave during this period at least 13 weeks before the desired start date.

You can extend your parental leave if you have not yet exhausted the 3 years. If you are still in the commitment period, the employer must give their consent. After the commitment period, you can also take parental leave without the consent of your employer if you meet the registration deadline.

If you wish to extend your parental leave, this does not count as a new period unless you have

• worked again in the original employment relationship,
• taken maternity protection periods or
• taken parental leave for another child.

You can end your parental leave prematurely at any time with your employer's consent. If your employer does not agree, you can only end your parental leave early in special cases:

• due to a particular case of hardship :
  • Serious illness,
  • severe disability or death of a parent or child,
  • serious threat to the parents' financial existence,
  • to take a new maternity protection period.

If your child dies during parental leave, your parental leave ends no later than 3 weeks after the date of death.

• Registration in text form with your employer
  • In text form means that it is also possible to register parental leave for births from 01.05.2025 by letter without a signature or by e-mail.
• Birth certificate of the child, if applicable
• Acknowledgment of paternity, if applicable
• Consent of the custodial parent, if applicable

• You are an employee.

• Your place of work can be in Germany or abroad. However, your employment relationship must be governed by German employment law. Exceptions may apply to employees who have their place of work in Germany under foreign law.

• You live with your child in a joint household. This does not require a jointly registered place of residence.

• You look after and bring up your child yourself.

• You do not work at all during parental leave or work a maximum of 32 hours per week.

There are no costs.

There are no indications or special features.