ROUTE
Elternzeit: Parental Leave
Up to 3 years off with a job guarantee — every parent has the right. The 7-week deadline, dismissal protection and the traps in the notification.
✓ Checked: 18/07/2026
Parental leave in Germany is an employee’s right, not an arrangement with the employer. It does not need negotiating: giving notice within the statutory period is enough, and the employer must grant it and keep your job open.
COSTS AND DEADLINES
Deadlines you cannot miss
- At least 7 weeks notice (13 weeks for the 3–8 age window)Elternzeit: Notifying Your Employerhard deadline
Amounts follow official fees as of each step’s verification date. Your city may charge a different rate — check the step itself.
› More about this route
This two-step route covers everything: planning the periods bearing in mind that each parent has an independent entitlement, and giving notice to the employer in the right form and time.
What matters most is the seven-week notice period and the special protection against dismissal, which begins with the notice itself. That is why notice is given when the deadline requires it rather than when everything is finally decided: protection starts before the leave does.
WHERE PEOPLE MOST OFTEN LOSE MONEY AND TIME
- Agreeing verbally instead of giving written notice. The right arises from notice in the proper form, not from a conversation with your manager.
- Missing the notice deadline. Being late pushes back the start, and your return-to-work plans collapse with it.
- Fixing the whole period with no flexibility. Changing the notified distribution later requires the employer’s consent.
- Confusing leave with the parental allowance. The time off and the payment are applied for separately and at different bodies.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ROUTE
Do I need the employer’s consent?▾
No. Parental leave is a statutory right, and the employer must grant it where notice is given in time. Consent is needed only for particular questions, such as transferring part of the entitlement to a later period.
Can I be dismissed during parental leave?▾
Special protection against dismissal applies, beginning before the leave itself with the timely notice. Dismissal during that time is possible only in exceptional cases with official consent.
Can both parents take leave at the same time?▾
Yes, each parent has an independent entitlement that is not shared. Periods can run simultaneously or consecutively, and part can be transferred to a later age of the child under certain conditions.
Is this the same as parental allowance?▾
No. Parental leave is time off with your job protected; the allowance is a payment granted by a separate authority on a separate application. They run in parallel but are two different procedures.