Financial security and other benefits from the employer
If the average net wage per calendar day exceeds the amount of 13 Euro (monthly net wage of 390 Euro), the employer is obliged to pay the difference as an employer supplement to the maternity benefit (Article 14 para. 1 MuSchG).
Also persons with a private health insurance coverage or who are covered as family members will receive the employer’s supplement amounting to this difference even if they do not receive the 13 Euro per calendar day but only the one-time payment of 210 Euro from the Federal Social Insurance Authority.
The basis for the calculation of the net wage is the average income minus the compulsory deductions. Any wage increases that are not temporary and that become effective during the protection periods must be included in the calculation.
If the woman is employed in a secondary employment besides her main employment, the benefits are to be paid by the respective employer in proportion to the respective net wages.
If a further child is born during the parental leave, a new maternity protection period will start. There is then again an entitlement for a maternity benefit but no employer’s supplement will be paid for the period when the new protection period overlaps with the current parental leave. There is an exception in those cases where the woman is working in a permitted part-time job during this parental leave.
But if the parental leave ends during the protection period, the employer must again pay the supplement for the remaining part of the maternity protection period.
If a pregnant or breast-feeding woman cannot carry out her previous employment prior to or after the maternity protection period due to a ban on working, she does not need to worry about her financial situation because pursuant to Article 11 para. 1 MuSchG she will receive at least their previous average income of the last 13 weeks or, in the case of monthly wages, of the last three months prior to the start of the pregnancy (Maternity wage).
In case of permanent increases of income during this period, e.g. wage and salary increases, the increased amount must be taken as the basis (Article 11 para. 2 MuSchG). But any reductions of income due to short-time work, loss of working hours or absence without one’s own fault are not taken into account for the calculation of the average income.
Whether a female employee is entitled to contributions to capital formation, a 13th monthly salary or extra payments by the employer during the maternity protection period will depend on the content of the respective contract (collective wage agreement, company agreement, or individual employment contract).
But female employees can invest parts of the employer’s supplement to the maternity benefit in a capital-forming manner and receive the savings bonus from the state for this purpose.
Due to Article 16 MuSchG the employer is obliged to exempt the pregnant woman from work so that she can take part in medical screening examinations if these are only possible during working hours. These periods must not be offset against holiday entitlements and the woman must not suffer any loss of earnings due to this.
A breast-feeding woman is entitled to claim breast-feeding periods during working hours after she resumed her work, pursuant to Article 7 para. 1 MuSchG. These periods are guaranteed by the Maternity Protection Law and they amount to at least two times half an hour per day or one time one hour per day. The breast-feeding periods, too, must not lead to a loss of earnings for the mother (Article 7 para. 2 MuSchG), nor is the employer entitled to let the breast-feeding women work this time in advance or later on, nor to settle these periods with the fixed breaks.