Information on Maternity Leave for Students

There is no obligation to report your pregnancy. But the university can only take protective measures for your and your child's health once it has knowledge of the pregnancy.

• Es gilt ein relatives Beschäftigungsverbot für Schwangere und Stillende ab 20 Uhr sowie an Sonn- und Feiertagen. Sie können eine Erklärung abgeben, dass Sie auf das Beschäftigungsverbot verzichten, um an genannten Veranstaltungen teilnehmen zu können. Diese Erklärung können Sie jederzeit mit Wirkung für die Zukunft widerrufen.
• Es gilt ein absolutes Beschäftigungsverbot ab 22 Uhr, auf das Sie nicht verzichten können.

• Please talk to your lecturers at an early stage in order to counteract possible difficulties.
• You must not be legally disadvantaged as a result of the pregnancy. According to the Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz), you are to be exempted for medical examinations during pregnancy and maternity leave as well as to breastfeed your child(ren) for up to 12 months after their birth.
• You are also protected under the Protective Provisions of the General Examination Regulations for B.A. and M.A. programmes (PDF).

• In general, you should not suffer any disadvantages due to the reported pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding period, see MuSchG.
• If you are unable to take part in examinations or study-relevant internships or laboratory activities, you have the option of reorganizing or adapting the study conditions in consultation with the respective Deans' Offices, see MuSchG.

• As a general rule, maternity protection under the Maternity Protection Act applies after notification of your pregnancy until the end of the breastfeeding period.
• However, there are special protection periods six weeks before the calculated date of birth and at least eight weeks after the birth. There is a relative ban on participation in compulsory events, examinations, internships, excursions.
• With early and multiple births, the protection period extends to twelve weeks after the birth.
• In the case of premature births, the period of protection after the birth is extended by the period which you could not claim from the six-week period before the birth.

• In order to receive maternity benefit (Mutterschaftsgeld), you must have a job that is subject to social insurance contributions before and during maternity leave. If you are not employed in this way during your studies, you can receive parental allowance (Elterngeld) from the birth of your child onwards. The parental allowance in this case is 300€ per month.
• BAföG continues to be paid if you interrupt your studies only for maternity leave. If you take a leave of absence, the BAföG entitlement does not apply. In this case, you can check whether you are entitled to benefits according to SGB II in the household structure in which you live.
• There is still a claim to additional pregnancy needs according to SGB II. This amounts to 17% of the relevant standard benefit. Even if you as a student are not entitled to benefits according to SGBII (also known as ALG II or Hartz IV), you can still apply to the Jobcenter of your municipality for additional requirements during pregnancy.