Maternity leave calculator Germany, Austria & Switzerland: start, end and pay

Protection periods and pay for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including premature birth, twins, or cesarean section

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Where are you employed?

You will find it in your maternity record. No due date yet? The Due Date Calculator works it out from your last period.

If your baby arrives earlier or later than calculated, the periods shift.

Does any of this apply?
What health insurance do you have?

Average of the last 3 months before maternity protection, without Christmas and vacation bonuses. Without an entry, the calculator only shows the periods.

Note: The calculator estimates periods and payments based on the statutory rules. What is binding are the decisions of your health insurance fund, the Austrian Health Insurance Fund or the Swiss compensation fund, and the information from your employer. How the calculator works.

Updated on 14 October 2026 · Fertilio Editorial Team

This page covers Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Maternity protection in Germany begins 6 weeks before the calculated due date and ends 8 weeks after the birth, or 12 weeks after a premature birth, a multiple birth, or a diagnosed disability of the child. In Austria, it is 8 weeks before the due date and 8 or 12 weeks after it. Switzerland has no period before the birth, but from the day of the birth you get 80 percent of your wage for 14 weeks.

When does maternity protection begin?

In Germany, you count back 42 days from the calculated due date. If the due date is Wednesday, 16 June 2027, maternity protection begins on Wednesday, 5 May 2027. Your last working day before that is Tuesday, 4 May. The period before the birth covers exactly the 42 days up to the day before the due date, and the day of delivery counts separately. After that come 56 days, in the example until Wednesday, 11 August 2027. Together, that makes 99 days: 14 weeks and one day.

Before the birth, you may keep working if you expressly want to. You can withdraw this declaration at any time. The 8 weeks after the birth, on the other hand, are an absolute employment ban.

The calculator starts from the due date your gynecologist entered in your maternity record (Mutterpass). If you do not have one yet, the Due Date Calculator works it out from your last period.

If your baby arrives earlier or later

If your baby arrives before the due date, the period before the birth gets shorter. The law adds the missing days at the end, 42 at most. In the example, the baby arrives 10 days early on Sunday, 6 June: maternity protection still ends on 11 August, 8 weeks and 10 days after the birth. If the baby arrives after the due date, only the period before the birth gets longer. After the birth, it stays at 8 weeks.

When it is 12 weeks after the birth

The period after the birth lasts 12 weeks instead of 8:

  • after a premature birth in the medical sense, for example with a birth weight under 2,500 grams or a clearly greater need for care, and according to the federal family portal (Familienportal) also after a birth before the end of the 37th week of pregnancy
  • after a multiple birth
  • if a doctor diagnoses a disability of the child before the 8 weeks are over. The period is then extended on your application.

A cesarean section alone does not extend maternity protection in Germany. The family portal says on this: there are no special statutory protection periods after a cesarean section.

Maternity protection after a miscarriage

Since 1 June 2025, there has been staggered maternity protection after a miscarriage from week 13 of pregnancy: 2 weeks from week 13, 6 weeks from week 17, and 8 weeks from week 20. It begins on the day after the miscarriage. You can waive it and work if you want to. A miscarriage is a loss before week 24 with a weight under 500 grams.

Maternity allowance: how much money do you get?

If you are a member of a statutory health insurance fund in your own right, it pays you up to €13 per calendar day during maternity protection. Your employer adds the difference to your average net salary. What counts is the net pay of the last 3 settled months before maternity protection begins, divided by 90. Christmas and vacation bonuses do not count.

An example: with €2,400 net per month, that is €80 per day, €13 from the health insurance fund and €67 from your employer. For 99 days, that adds up to about €7,920. So in the end, you get roughly your previous net pay. Maternity allowance and the employer supplement are free of tax and social contributions, but they are subject to the progression proviso (Progressionsvorbehalt). This means they raise the tax rate on your other income in the same year.

If you have private health insurance or are covered by family insurance, the Federal Office for Social Security pays a one-off amount of at most €210. You get the supplement from your employer just like people with statutory health insurance. Self-employed women only get maternity allowance if they have voluntary statutory health insurance with a right to sickness benefit. Germany does not yet have its own statutory maternity protection for the self-employed, as of October 2026.

Maternity protection in Austria

In Austria, an absolute employment ban applies 8 weeks before the calculated due date. After the birth, it lasts 8 weeks, or at least 12 weeks after a premature birth, a multiple birth, or a cesarean section. If the baby arrives early, the shortened period before the birth is added at the end, up to a total of 16 weeks after the birth at most. Including the day of delivery, the standard case comes to 113 days.

Instead of a salary, you get maternity benefit (Wochengeld) from your health insurance. It is based on your net pay over the last 3 full calendar months, divided by their calendar days. A supplement for vacation and Christmas bonuses is added: according to the statutes of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund, 14 percent for special payments up to one month’s pay, 17 percent up to two months’ pay, and 21 percent above that. The calculator uses the standard case of 17 percent. With €2,400 net, that is about €92 per day.

Fixed amounts apply to some groups, as of 2026:

Situation Maternity benefit
marginally employed with voluntary self-insurance €12.19 per day
self-employed and insured with the SVS (social insurance for the self-employed), usually as business help (Betriebshilfe) €72.18 per day
receiving childcare allowance (Kinderbetreuungsgeld) the amount of the daily childcare allowance
receiving unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance (Notstandshilfe) the previous benefit plus 80 percent

After a miscarriage with a weight under 500 grams, there is no maternity protection in Austria. Instead, you get sick leave and 4 weeks of protection against dismissal.

Maternity protection in Switzerland

In Switzerland, there is no paid protection period before the birth. You may stay away from work simply by notifying your employer, but under the Labor Act (Arbeitsgesetz) you do not get a wage for this. From 8 weeks before the birth, work between 20:00 and 6:00 is prohibited.

After the birth, you may not work for 8 weeks, and after that only with your consent until week 16. From the day of the birth, you get 98 daily allowances, which is 14 weeks of maternity compensation under the Income Compensation Act (Erwerbsersatzordnung). It amounts to 80 percent of your wage, calculated as the monthly wage divided by 30, at most CHF 220 per day. You reach the maximum amount from a monthly wage of CHF 8,250. With CHF 6,000, it is CHF 160 per day, about CHF 15,680 for 98 days. The compensation ends as soon as you go back to work, even part-time.

The requirement is 9 months of AHV insurance (Swiss old-age and survivors’ insurance) before the birth, at least 5 of them in paid work. If the baby arrives before the 7th, 8th, or 9th month of pregnancy, 6, 7, or 8 months of insurance are enough. If your newborn has to stay in hospital for at least 2 weeks right after the birth, the compensation is extended by these days, by 56 at most. From 1 July 2027, a hospital stay of the mother also counts, and the upper limit of 56 days then no longer applies.

Frequently asked questions

When exactly does maternity protection begin?

In Germany 42 days before the calculated due date, in Austria 56 days before it. With a due date on 16 June 2027, that is 5 May in Germany and 21 April in Austria. In Switzerland, maternity leave only begins with the birth.

How long does maternity protection last?

In Germany, 99 days in the standard case: 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after the birth, plus the day of delivery. With 12 weeks after the birth, it is 127 days. In Austria, it is 113 days in the standard case, and in Switzerland 98 daily allowances from the birth.

Does a cesarean section extend maternity protection?

In Germany no, in Austria yes: there, the period after a cesarean section lasts at least 12 weeks. Switzerland has no special rule for it.

What happens if my baby arrives early?

In Germany and Austria, you do not lose any days. The law adds the days that were missing before the birth to the period after it, up to 42 days in Germany. In Austria, the period ends 16 weeks after the birth at the latest.

How much maternity allowance will I get?

With statutory health insurance in Germany, roughly your previous net pay: up to €13 per day from the health insurance fund, and the rest up to your average net pay from your employer. With private or family insurance, you get a one-off amount of at most €210 from the Federal Office for Social Security, plus the supplement from your employer.

Do I have to stop working before the birth?

In Germany, no: before the birth, you may keep working if you expressly declare that you want to. In Austria, an absolute employment ban already applies before the birth. In Switzerland, you work until the birth, and night work is prohibited in the last 8 weeks.

Is there maternity protection for twins?

Yes. In Germany and Austria, the period after a multiple birth lasts 12 weeks instead of 8. In Switzerland, it stays at 98 daily allowances.

Does maternity protection also apply after a miscarriage?

In Germany, since 1 June 2025, from week 13 of pregnancy: 2, 6, or 8 weeks, depending on how far along the pregnancy was. You can waive it. In Austria, there is no maternity protection after a miscarriage under 500 grams.

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