Maternity and parental pay in Germany: the Mutterschaftsgeld Arbeitgeberzuschuss, Elterngeld, and the U2 refund

During maternity protection in Germany, the health insurer pays an employee at most €13 a day in Mutterschaftsgeld (maternity allowance), and the employer pays the Arbeitgeberzuschuss (employer top-up) that brings her up to her average net pay. The employer then claims back 100% of that top-up through the U2 levy. When parental leave (Elternzeit) follows, the salary stops and the state pays Elterngeld (parental allowance) of €300 to €1,800 a month.

Mutterschutz: six weeks before the birth, eight or twelve after

Mutterschutz (maternity protection) is set by the Mutterschutzgesetz (MuSchG, the Maternity Protection Act). The employer may not employ a pregnant woman in the six weeks before the expected date of birth unless she expressly asks to keep working (MuSchG § 3(1)). After the birth, she may not work for eight weeks, with narrow exceptions. The period extends to twelve weeks for a premature or multiple birth, or at the mother's request when a disability is diagnosed in the child within eight weeks (MuSchG § 3(2)).

The start date comes from the due date on the medical certificate. If the baby is born early, the pre-birth days lost are added after the birth; if the baby is born late, the pre-birth period lasts longer. Since June 2025, a miscarriage from the 13th week of pregnancy also triggers a protection period of two, six, or eight weeks (MuSchG § 3(5)).

Mutterschaftsgeld and the Arbeitgeberzuschuss: €13 a day plus the difference to net pay

An employee insured with a statutory health insurer (Krankenkasse) receives Mutterschaftsgeld for each calendar day of the protection periods and for the day of the birth: her average net daily pay, capped at €13 (SGB V § 24i(2)).

The top-up (Zuschuss zum Mutterschaftsgeld) is the gap between €13 and her average net pay per calendar day over the last three calendar months already processed in payroll before the protection period (MuSchG § 20(1)). One-off payments such as a Christmas bonus are excluded from that average (MuSchG § 21). For a fixed monthly salary, the Krankenkassen divide the three months' net pay by 90, even when the months contain 92 days; hourly and piece-rate pay use other formulas.

• The top-up is tax-free and contribution-free (EStG § 3 No. 1(d); SvEV § 1(1) No. 6). The amount still counts toward the tax rate on her other income (the progression clause, Progressionsvorbehalt), so the employer reports it on the annual wage-tax certificate (EStG §§ 32b, 41b).
• Employees outside the statutory scheme, such as the privately insured, receive at most €210 in total from the Federal Office for Social Security (Bundesamt für Soziale Sicherung, MuSchG § 19(2)). The employer still deducts a notional €13 a day when calculating its top-up, so the employee, not the employer, bears the shortfall.

Worked example: the Zuschuss zum Mutterschaftsgeld on €3,000 net a month

Take an employee on a fixed salary of €3,000 net a month, insured with a statutory Krankenkasse, whose baby is born on the due date.

1. Average net per calendar day. Three months at €3,000 is €9,000. €9,000 ÷ 90 = €100 a day.
2. The insurer's share. The Krankenkasse pays the maximum €13 a day.
3. The employer top-up. €100 − €13 = €87 a day.
4. The protection period. Six weeks before (42 days), the day of birth (1 day), and eight weeks after (56 days) make 99 calendar days.
5. Totals. The insurer pays 99 × €13 = €1,287. The employer pays 99 × €87 = €8,613.

In a 30-day month, the Krankenkasse pays €390 and the employer €2,610, so her income stays at €3,000. The employer then reclaims the full €8,613 through U2.

Employment bans: Mutterschutzlohn at full average pay

Outside the protection periods, a doctor can issue an employment ban (Beschäftigungsverbot) for a pregnant employee (MuSchG § 16), or the employer's risk assessment can lead to an occupational ban (MuSchG § 13). In both cases the employer pays Mutterschutzlohn (maternity protection pay): her average gross pay over the last three processed calendar months before the pregnancy began (MuSchG § 18).

Unlike the top-up, Mutterschutzlohn is ordinary pay, with wage tax and social-security contributions deducted as usual. An employee whose pre-pregnancy average is €4,000 gross a month receives €4,000 gross for each full month of the ban.

The U2 Umlage: almost every employer pays it, and the refund is 100%

The U2 Umlage (maternity cost levy) under the Aufwendungsausgleichsgesetz (AAG, the Employer Expenses Compensation Act) funds both payments. Almost every employer pays the levy, whatever its headcount, even with only male staff or only apprentices (AAG § 1(3)). Employees contribute nothing.

The levy is a percentage of each employee's ongoing pay up to the pension contribution ceiling, €8,450 a month in 2026 (AAG § 7(2)). Each Krankenkasse sets its own rate. DAK-Gesundheit charges 0.39% for 2026, so an employee on €4,000 gross a month costs the employer €15.60 a month in levy.

The refund is fixed by law at 100% (AAG § 1(2)): the full top-up, the full Mutterschutzlohn, and the employer's social-security contributions on that Mutterschutzlohn. For the €4,000 Mutterschutzlohn, DAK refunds the €4,000 plus a flat 21.5% for the employer's contributions, capped at the contributions actually paid. On 2026 rates, the employer's share for a DAK member outside Saxony is 21.3% (health 7.3% plus half the 3.2% DAK supplement, pension 9.3%, unemployment 1.3%, long-term care 1.8%). The cap therefore applies: the contribution refund is €852, not €860. The refund is paid only on an electronic claim to the employee's Krankenkasse.

Elternzeit and Elterngeld: no salary, a state benefit, and social security that continues

Under the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz, BEEG), Elternzeit (parental leave) lasts up to three years per parent per child; up to 24 months can be taken between the child's third and eighth birthdays (BEEG § 15(2)). The employer pays no salary during full-time Elternzeit. A parent may work up to 32 hours a week on monthly average (BEEG § 15(4)); only that part-time pay goes through payroll.

The state pays Elterngeld through the local Elterngeld office (Elterngeldstelle): 67% of pre-birth net income, tapering to 65% for incomes above €1,240 a month, with a floor of €300 and a ceiling of €1,800 (BEEG § 2). The office calculates that net figure from gross pay with flat-rate deductions, so the figure differs slightly from payslip net. A pre-birth net income of about €2,770 reaches the ceiling, so the employee in the example would receive €1,800. Couples share twelve months, or fourteen when both take part (BEEG § 4).

No Elterngeld is paid if taxable income in the last completed tax year before the birth exceeded €175,000, counting both parents' income for a couple. For births since 1 April 2025, the same limit applies to couples and single parents (BEEG § 1(8)).

The Elterngeldstelle bases its calculation on the payslips for the twelve months before the month of birth, skipping maternity-protection months (BEEG § 2b). Mutterschaftsgeld and the top-up for the weeks after the birth are offset against the mother's Elterngeld (BEEG § 3). Elterngeld is tax-free but subject to the progression clause (EStG § 3 No. 67(b); § 32b(1) No. 1(j)).

For a compulsorily insured employee, statutory health membership continues during Mutterschaftsgeld, Elterngeld, or Elternzeit, with no contributions due on those benefits (SGB V §§ 192, 224). The employer files an interruption notice (Unterbrechungsmeldung): code 51 when Mutterschaftsgeld covers a full calendar month, or code 52 for Elternzeit that does not follow straight on from Mutterschaftsgeld, such as a father's. Since January 2024 the employer also reports the start (code 17) and end (code 37) of Elternzeit. Pension credits for the first three years come from the state as child-raising periods (SGB VI § 56), not from the employer.

Elterngeld may change: a July 2026 ministry draft would cut the shared entitlement to twelve months and raise the minimum and maximum to €330 and €1,900 from 1 November 2027. As of mid-October 2026 nothing has been enacted, and in late September the family minister put the twelve-month cut back under review.

Summary

• Protection periods: the Krankenkasse pays up to €13 a day; the employer tops up to average net pay, tax-free and contribution-free.
• Employment bans: the employer pays Mutterschutzlohn at pre-pregnancy gross, taxed as normal.
• U2: almost every employer pays the levy and reclaims 100% of both payments.
• Elternzeit: no salary; the state pays Elterngeld of €300 to €1,800 a month; notices 51/52 and 17/37.

The arithmetic is simple. The hard part is timing: switching pay on the right day, recalculating when the baby is early or late, and filing the U2 claim and notices on time. Flux helps partners running German payroll for clients keep track of those dates.