Maternity Protection

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Maternity protection is the sum of legal regulations for the protection of mother and child before and after childbirth. These include employment bans before and after the birth, special protection against dismissal for mothers, and compensation benefits during the employment ban ( maternity benefit ) and beyond ( parental benefit ).

ILO Convention No. 183 on Maternity Protection

The Conventions Nos. 183 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which entered into force in 2002, sets the Parties minimum standards of maternity protection. It replaces Maternity Protection Convention No. 103, 1952.

The Convention grants all employed women, including those in atypical forms of dependent work, maternity leave of at least 14 weeks. Convention No. 183 also contains standards on health protection, leave in the event of illness or complications, monetary and medical benefits, employment protection and non-discrimination, and the protection of nursing mothers. It introduces increased flexibility through a reference to national law and practice, with the aim of achieving a greater number of ratifications.

According to Article 2 of the Convention, it applies to all employed women. Article 3 requires the Member States, after consulting the representative employers 'and workers' organizations, to take appropriate measures to ensure that pregnant or breastfeeding women are not forced to carry out work that is harmful to the health of the mother or child pose a significant risk to their health. Article 4 provides that every woman to whom the Convention applies is entitled to at least fourteen weeks' maternity leave. This includes six weeks of mandatory postpartum leave, unless otherwise agreed at the national level by the government and representative employers 'and workers' associations. According to Article 5, leave must be granted in the event of illness, complications or the risk of complications as a result of pregnancy or childbirth.

Article 6 regulates the granting of benefits in cash or in kind during the holiday. These must ensure the maintenance of the woman and child in perfect health and with a reasonable standard of living. Women who do not meet the eligibility requirements for cash benefits must receive state welfare benefits. In addition, mother and child are entitled to medical services, including care before, during and after childbirth and, if necessary, hospital care. In principle, the cost of these services may not be imposed on the employer. Article 7 introduces a flexibility clause in favor of countries whose economies and social security systems are underdeveloped.

Article 8 of the Convention aims to ensure adequate employment protection . According to this, a woman's employment relationship cannot be terminated during her pregnancy, maternity leave or leave in the event of illness or complications, or during a period prescribed by national law after her return to work. Exceptions can only be made on the condition that there are reasons unrelated to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Article 9 obliges Member States to take measures to ensure that motherhood does not constitute grounds for discrimination in employment. Article 10 guarantees women the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction in working hours to breastfeed their child. These breastfeeding breaks are to be counted as working time and paid accordingly.

In November 2011, 18 states had ratified the convention, including 12 states of the European Union: Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus. In Switzerland, the National Council was the first of the two chambers of parliament to approve ratification in September 2012.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland have also ratified the UN Women's Convention.

European Law

The " Directive 92/85 / EEC (Maternity Protection Directive) on the implementation of measures to improve the health and safety of pregnant workers, women who have recently given birth and who are breastfeeding at work" also applies to maternity leave and discrimination in the workplace. Legislation on equal treatment in matters of employment and occupation also protects against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.

Article 2 (7) of the revised European Equal Treatment Directive (Directive 2002/73 / EC) of September 23, 2002 reaffirms the protection of women on maternity leave:

Women on maternity leave at the end of maternity leave are entitled to return to their previous job or an equivalent job under conditions no less favorable to them and to any improvements in working conditions to which they are entitled during their absence would have benefited.

On October 3, 2008, the European Commission proposed an amendment to Directive 92/85 / EEC, which, among other things, provided for an extension of maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks. Some member states, including Germany, resisted an extension of maternity leave and warned of financial burdens on employers and the resulting disadvantages for women on the labor market. Regardless of this, on October 20, 2010 , the European Parliament even voted for an extension to 20 weeks.

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights also guarantees maternity protection in Article 33 (2), and the European Social Charter guarantees it in Article 8.

Germany

In Germany, maternity protection for female employees is laid down in the Mutterschutzgesetz (MuSchG), which defines the conditions for the use of pregnant women in an employment relationship . For civil servants, judges and soldiers, special maternity protection ordinances apply in Germany, but their content is comparable to the MuSchG .

The "Maternity Guidelines" of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) on medical care during pregnancy and after childbirth, on the other hand, serve to provide medical prenatal care for all women with statutory health insurance , regardless of employment, for the early detection of high-risk pregnancies and high-risk births .

Until its new version in 2018, the MuSchG was supplemented by the regulation for the protection of mothers at work (MuSchArbV) for the implementation of the European maternity protection directive of 1992. It obliges the employer to "every activity in which expectant or breastfeeding mothers are exposed to hazardous chemical substances, biological agents, physical damaging factors which processes or working conditions according to Annex 1 of this Ordinance could be endangered, the type, extent and duration of the endangerment (to) assess. The obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act remain unaffected. The purpose of the assessment is to assess all risks to the safety and health as well as all effects on pregnancy or breastfeeding of the workers concerned and to determine the protective measures to be taken. "These protective measures often go beyond those of general occupational safety because the health risks for both Mother as well as for the unborn must be considered. Employment bans, misleadingly referred to as maternity leave , are possible.

With a few exceptions, termination of the employment relationship is not permitted from the start of pregnancy up to four months after the delivery . The period for the start of protection against dismissal is calculated based on the medically attested, probable day of the birth minus 280 days.

An exception can be, for example , in the event of insolvency , the partial shutdown of the company (without the possibility of transferring the pregnant woman to another job) or in small companies when the company cannot continue without a qualified replacement. A particularly serious breach of duty by the woman can in exceptional cases justify termination. In these special cases, however, the employer must first apply to the competent authority for the dismissal to be declared admissible. He can only terminate the contract with legal effect after the authority has given its approval.

A termination declared earlier is ineffective if the mother files an action with the labor court within three weeks. If this deadline has already passed when the mother becomes aware of her pregnancy, she can submit an application for subsequent admission of the dismissal protection action, § 5 KSchG .

If the mother takes parental leave after the child is born, the protection against dismissal is extended beyond the period of the Maternity Protection Act until the end of the parental leave.

Maternity leave begins six weeks before the birth or before the calculated due date (EGT). Expectant mothers are not allowed to work in the six weeks before giving birth unless they expressly agree to do so. After giving birth, women who have recently given birth may not be employed for up to eight weeks. In the case of premature and multiple births or a disabled child, this period is extended to twelve weeks. Overall, the maternity protection periods (before and after the birth) together amount to at least 14 weeks. Days that are lost in the event of premature delivery are "added" to the eight or twelve week protection period after the birth.

In addition, the law stipulates the prohibition of overtime work (more than 8.5 hours per day), night and Sunday work ( Sections 4 to 6 MuSchG).

The compensation benefits to be paid under the Maternity Protection Act, such as maternity allowance in particular , have been financed by the U2 levy since 2006 , a compulsory compensation procedure for all employers. The health insurance company reimburses the employer for the payments to be made.

Protection during pregnancy and parental leave in Germany
Simplified representation
Period / point Before the pregnancy Beginning of pregnancy Communication to the employer remaining time of pregnancy 6 weeks before the calculated due date Day of birth 8 weeks after giving birth up to 4 months
after the birth 		up to 12 months
after the birth 		Max. up to the completion of the 3rd year of life (partly up to the completion of the 8th year of life) Getting back to work Raising children After raising children
Pay and other financial benefits: Net salary x € / month
§ 611 BGB 		Maternity allowance : 13 € / day
§§  19-20 MuSchG 		Net salary x € / month
§ 611 BGB
Entitlement to continued payment, Section 18 MuSchG Net salary x € / month minus maternity allowance
§§  19-20 MuSchG 		Parental benefit
minimum € 300, max. 1800 €
§§ 1–6 BEEG
Child benefit 204 € / month, or child allowance, §§ 31–32, 62–78 EStG
Right to unpaid leave : Parental leave , §§ 15–16 BEEG
Right to part-time work : § 8 TzBfG Sections 15–16 BEEG § 8 TzBfG
Special occupational safety : Maternity leave , MuSchArbV
Employment ban : if applicable, prohibition of employment in accordance with §§ 3 to 6 MuSchG Maternity protection , §§ 3 to 6 MuSchG
optional required by law
(12 instead of 8 weeks for premature and multiple births or a medically determined disability)
Protection against dismissal : Section 17 MuSchG (protection against dismissal continues for 4 months after a miscarriage after the 12th week of pregnancy)
Sections 18–19 BEEG

Austria

In Austria too, with the onset of industrialization in the second half of the 19th century, the protection of women workers, both in the working class and in the bourgeois women's movement, became the subject of different political demands.

In Austria, the 1979 Maternity Protection Act is the relevant legal basis. The MSchG regulates the special protection of pregnant employees against harmful occupations, the individual and general prohibition of employment, the special protection against dismissal and dismissal as well as the right to parental leave (parental leave) up to the child's 2nd birthday and part-time parental leave up to the child's 7th birthday related tiered dismissal and dismissal protection. The rules were tightened in 2011/2012.

Duty to provide information, special protection against dismissal

The employer should be informed of the pregnancy, since with his knowledge the special protection against dismissal for pregnant women ( § 4 MSchG) becomes effective; However, according to the prevailing doctrine, this is a mere obligation of the pregnant woman, the disregard of which only means that the special protection against dismissal does not (yet) become effective and that the employer cannot (yet) be obliged to the special protection of employees. The information about the pregnancy can even be given up to five working days later in the event of a termination, which means that termination that has already been given becomes ineffective ( Section 10 MSchG). Expectant mothers are subject to special protection against dismissal and dismissal: during pregnancy and up to 4 months after the birth, dismissals from employers and dismissals for important reasons require the express consent of the responsible labor and social court to be legally effective. When approving a discharge for an important reason, the court must take into account the particular state of mind of the pregnant woman ( Section 12 (3) MSchG). If the mother takes parental leave (parental leave) or parental part-time work after the child's birth, the dismissal and dismissal protection continues to apply until four weeks after the end of this period. However, from the child's second year of life, there is a relaxation in terms of the fact that the employer can use operational requirements as a reason for termination ( Section 10 (4) MSchG).

Special employee protection for pregnant women

According to the ASchG, every employer must prepare an evaluation in accordance with the Maternity Protection Act, in which the respective workplace is to be assessed for possible dangers for the pregnant woman and / or her womb ( § 2a MSchG). In particular, the evaluation must identify those workplaces where work is to be carried out that pregnant women may not be involved in under any circumstances ( Section 4 MSchG - this applies, for example, to work at an increased working pace, work involving substances hazardous to health or work on means of transport). Pregnant women are to be employed in other, non-hazardous workplaces immediately after the pregnancy has been announced. The transfer must not lead to a reduction in the remuneration ( Section 14 (3) MSchG). There is an absolute ban on night work from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for pregnant women, of which there are exceptions to be officially approved until 10 p.m. in restaurants and until 11 p.m. in cinemas and theaters ( Section 6 MSchG). Further bans apply to work on Sundays and public holidays ( Section 7 MSchG) and for the performance of overtime ( Section 8 MSchG). The supervisory authority for the special protection of female workers is the labor inspectorate.

Employment ban

The absolute prohibition of employment applies to pregnant women in the last eight weeks before delivery ( Section 3 (1) MSchG). Employers who let pregnant women continue to work despite the absolute employment ban risk an administrative fine of up to € 3,630.00 ( Section 37 (1) MSchG). The beginning of the absolute prohibition of employment must be calculated on the basis of a medical confirmation of the expected delivery date ( Section 3 (2) MSchG). If the delivery takes place earlier or later, this period is extended or shortened accordingly ( Section 3 (2) MSchG). After delivery, the absolute prohibition of employment applies for eight weeks and is extended to 12 weeks after delivery in the case of caesarean, premature and multiple births; If the delivery takes place before the calculated date, this period is extended accordingly, but no more than 16 weeks ( Section 5 (1) MSchG). This so-called “protection period” corresponds to the “maternity leave” of the EU's Maternity Protection Directive. If there are certain medical circumstances that threaten the health of the mother or the womb, and this has also been attested by the medical officer or the medical service of the labor inspectorate, an individual prohibition of employment can come into effect even before the absolute prohibition of employment begins ( Section 3 (3) MSchG). Pregnant employees in catering establishments where they are exposed to the effects of tobacco smoke have a special right to exemption from employment ( Section 13a (5) of the Tobacco Act).

Pay during the ban on employment

DienstnehmerInnen get during the individual and of the absolute employment ban by the competent social security institutions , the maternity allowance . This corresponds to the average net earnings for the last 13 weeks ( Section 162 (1) General Social Insurance Act). If, in the event of illness or short-time work, a lower wage was paid during this time, the period of 13 weeks is extended by these times.

Switzerland

Since July 1, 2005, women in an employment relationship have received compensation for loss of earnings for the duration of their maternity leave for 14 weeks after the birth according to the income compensation scheme (EO) . In this respect, Switzerland has no general maternity insurance, because the maternity allowance partly excludes inactive mothers. The Labor Act (ArG Art. 35a) stipulates that women who have recently given birth are not allowed to work for 8 weeks after the birth. The protection of pregnant or breastfeeding women from dangerous and arduous work is regulated by the Swiss Maternity Protection Ordinance in addition to the Labor Act .

Finland

In Finland you are entitled to maternity, paternity and parental benefit. These benefits are funded through health insurance contributions as well as government grants and are administered by local social security offices. They are subject to tax. Depending on the collective agreement, there are additional claims to continued payment of wages from the employer for the duration of the maternity leave (as of 2012).

France

In France, the pregnant woman is entitled to maternity leave , which is usually 16 weeks in total. During pregnancy and in the period afterwards, but especially during the delivery period, she also enjoys comprehensive protection against dismissal .

Maternity and paternity allowances are paid by the social security system ( sécurité sociale ); Other family policy measures are financed through the family fund ( caisse d'allocations familiales , CAF). The scope of maternity protection includes all women who are employed and who are self-insured.

Sweden

In Sweden there is parental insurance ( föräldraförsäkring ) to finance pregnancy allowance ( havandeskapspenning ), parental allowance ( föräldrapenning ) for mothers and fathers and temporary parental allowance ( tillfäll föräldrapenning ). Financing is done through social security contributions. Large families receive additional support.

Slovenia

In the Republic of Slovenia, the parental leave insurance covers parental leave (maternity leave, parental leave, paternity leave, adoptive parental leave) and the corresponding benefits for parents (maternity allowance, childcare allowance, paternity allowance, adoptive parental allowance) for employees, self-employed, farmers, among others.

Circumventing maternity leave

Dependencies outside of labor law sometimes circumvent the right to maternity protection. This applies in particular to undeclared work , but also to forms of new self-employment , bogus self-employment as well as the compensation for research work of young female scientists through grants .

history

This article or paragraph describes the situation in Germany , Austria and Switzerland . Help me to describe the situation in other countries.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland were among the first in Europe to introduce regulations on maternity protection. An employment ban for women after the birth of a child ("maternity leave protection") was introduced in Switzerland in 1877, in Germany in 1878 and in Austria in 1885. In 1917, the three states were among the nine European states that had already enshrined an employment ban for more than four weeks.

History of maternity leave in Switzerland

As early as 1867, a six-week employment ban for women who had recently given birth was issued in the Swiss canton of Glarus . At the same time, a twelve-hour maximum working time in factories and a night work ban came into force. As a result of a constitutional amendment in 1874, what was previously cantonal responsibility for labor law matters went to the federal government, which, after three years of negotiations, passed the Federal Factory Act in 1877 . At its time, the Factory Act was the most far-reaching occupational health and safety act on the European continent; it was partly based on its Glarus predecessor. Pregnant and childbirth women were banned from employment for eight weeks, six weeks of which had to be after childbirth. For individual branches of industry and manufacturing, there was an absolute employment ban for pregnant women. Since the provisions only applied to factory-run businesses, individual cantons imposed general employment bans for women who had recently given birth for four to six weeks.

However, the lack of wage replacement benefits meant that the protection periods were not met in many cases. Demands for wage replacement and maternity funds came from the workers' associations and civic women's associations founded in the late 1880s and early 1890s. A health and accident insurance law passed in a referendum in 1912 provided for six weeks of sick pay for women who had recently given birth and the state granted breastfeeding mothers for a further four weeks because there was no compulsory insurance, but this improvement did not affect all mothers. The costs that would have arisen for all mothers in the event of a wage replacement were the reason why Switzerland did not ratify the Washington Convention on the Employment of Women Before and After Childbirth in 1921 . This included the right to stop work six weeks before the due date, a six-week ban on women who have recently given birth, state transfer benefits, breastfeeding breaks and protection against dismissal during the break. Plans to further expand Swiss maternity insurance as part of health and accident insurance were deferred in favor of the old-age and survivors' insurance introduced in 1947. A constitutional mandate to the federal government to introduce maternity insurance, which was given by referendum in November 1945, lacked the political will to implement it.

The Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) has provided protection against dismissal during pregnancy and 16 weeks after childbirth since 1989. After unsuccessful initiatives such as the Federal People's Initiative “for an effective protection of maternity” in 1980, the Swiss electorate only accepted the proposal for maternity allowance in the referendum on September 26, 2004 .

History of maternity leave in Germany

When the trade regulations of the North German Confederation from 1869 were adopted during the establishment of the German Empire , there were no regulations on the protection of pregnant women or women who had recently given birth. While in Austria and Switzerland the first demands for occupational health and safety regulations for women came mainly from doctors, workers and (in Switzerland) also from pastors , in Germany it was an alliance of scientists. In 1872 they founded the Verein für Socialpolitik , which campaigned for protective provisions for women and minors employed in factories. Based on their submissions to the Reich Chancellor and a motion by the Reichstag, two inquiries took place in 1874 and 1875 , the first of which dealt with the situation of working women and their children and became the basis of the trade regulation amendment passed in 1878. In this, a three-week employment ban after childbirth was stipulated for women who had recently given birth and the Federal Council was authorized to issue a ban on night work and a ban on work associated with health or moral dangers.

An entitlement to wage replacement arose for the first time with the Health Insurance Act 1883, which provided maternity allowance in the amount of sick pay (50% of the daily wage) for the duration of the employment ban. In the 1880s there were initiatives to expand maternity protection, but these failed because of Bismarck's resistance . After his dismissal in 1890, there was an amendment to the trade regulations in 1891, with which the employment ban after birth was extended to four weeks. Germany had requested this duration of the protection period at the International Workers Protection Conference in Berlin in 1890. In addition, two more weeks were set in which the work could only be continued with medical permission. The 1908 trade regulation amendment that came into force in 1910 was based on the Federal Factory Act of 1877 (eight weeks, of which at least six had to be after the delivery). Adjustments in the duration of maternity allowances lagged behind. In 1892 the period of benefits was extended to four weeks and in 1903 to six weeks. With the Reich Insurance Ordinance of 1911, office workers, homeworkers and migrant workers and servants were included in the group of compulsorily insured persons and the maternity allowance was increased to eight weeks. To receive maternity allowance, the woman who had recently given birth had to have been insured for six months within the last year before the birth.

Since the turn of the century, the debate about maternity leave and its financing had mainly been led by women's associations - in contrast to Austria also by the bourgeoisie. Among other things, the Federation of German Women's Associations and the Association of Progressive Women's Associations petitioned the parliament and the government to extend the protection periods, state maternity insurance and raise maternity allowances to full daily wages. The federal maternity protection association particularly pushed for state maternity insurance . The Social Democrats , on the other hand, advocated funding through the health insurances and called for better protection for pregnant, childbirth and breastfeeding women and an extension of the protection periods before and after childbirth.

During the First World War , “Reichswochenhilfe” was introduced, according to which women whose husbands were doing military service were also entitled to financial benefits. These included an allowance for midwifery services, a childbirth contribution, maternity allowance for eight weeks (of which at least six had to be after the birth) and breastfeeding allowance for breastfeeding mothers up to the twelfth week. At the same time, however, the emergency ordinance of August 4, 1914 restricted the occupational health and safety regulations, which is why the employment ban was more often circumvented until its repeal in 1918.

Despite pressure from trade unions, women's associations and social reform groups to expand the Maternity Protection Act, it was not until 1926 that the Reichstag passed a resolution to take account of the Washington Convention on the Employment of Women Before and After Childbirth . The Maternity Protection Act was passed in 1927 against resistance from industry. With the exception of women employed in agriculture, forestry or housekeeping, the protection provisions were extended to all female employees subject to compulsory insurance, protection against dismissal was introduced and pregnant women were given the right to stop work six weeks before the birth. Women who had recently given birth were able to stay away from work for a further six weeks following the six-week ban on employment, and breastfeeding breaks were also made possible. However, even after the Reich Insurance Ordinance was changed in 1929, maternity allowance was still well below wages, which is why the options for stoppage of work or breastfeeding breaks were hardly used.

During National Socialism , despite its family and population policy orientation, it took until 1941 for the Reich Labor Ministry to submit a draft for a National Socialist Maternity Protection Act aimed at maintaining the people's "military strength" and increasing the willingness of women to work in the armaments industry. In the long term, a basis was to be created with which mothers could be kept completely away from gainful employment and given over to their families. With this law on the protection of working mothers , which came into force in 1942 , the scope of application was extended to agricultural workers and the period of protection for nursing mothers was extended. Maternity allowance for mothers with health insurance was increased to the full average earnings of the previous 13 weeks, and uninsured women continued to receive their full wages. Companies should either set up company kindergartens or support public institutions financially. In 1944, the benefits were supplemented by a breastfeeding allowance , which was also due to mothers who were not insured or who were not employed at all. In the same year, equivalent regulations were made for civil servants, but there was no announced extension of maternity protection to include women farmers, housemaids, women obliged to do emergency service and family workers. No or only minimal maternity leave was provided for Jewish women and those who did not contribute to the “consolidation of the German nationality”.

After the end of the Nazi regime, the National Socialist Maternity Protection Act was partially repealed. Regionally, they returned to the Reich German maternity leave of 1927, which led to inconsistent handling in the federal territory. A uniform nationwide maternity protection law was passed in 1952.

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History of maternity leave in Austria

With the trade regulation amendment of 1885, the existing employment relationships were intervened for the first time in favor of wage earners. In addition to working time restrictions in factories, a four-week ban on women who have recently given birth has been banned from work in industry and commerce. In the Health Insurance Act that came into force in 1888, the puerperium was included in the benefits. The compulsorily insured mothers were granted free obstetric assistance as well as maternity allowance for the duration of the employment ban, which amounted to 60 to 75 percent of the local wage. Because farm workers, day laborers, home workers and servants were not included, the regulation only affected eleven percent of the workers.

At the beginning of the 1890s the social democratic workers' movement was formed , one of whose central demands was the expansion of maternity leave. They dominated the political controversy over maternity protection until the end of the monarchy , while questions of maternity protection were of little importance for the bourgeois women's movement. The demands of the Social Democrats included, for example, an extension of the maternity leave protection to all wage-dependent women, an increase in the wage replacement to the average daily wage, protection against pregnant women including a reduction in their working hours to six hours and breastfeeding bonuses as an incentive to breastfeed. The additional services should be financed by grants from the state to the health insurance companies. Other ideas discussed were a degressive state " salary for mothers" up to the child's sixth birthday, as well as state-financed maternity insurance, which is also required by the German and Austrian Federation for Maternity Protection. In the Reichsrat , the social democratic proposals were rejected by a majority. A government draft for a social security law, which provided for an increase in maternity allowance and breastfeeding bonuses, did not get beyond the draft stage. Up until the beginning of the First World War there was only an increase in the maternity allowance and improvements for women workers in building construction, railway construction, in clay, sand and gravel pits and quarries.

The large number of female employees, sharply falling birth rates and increases in premature births, miscarriages and infant mortality forced the government to act at the end of the First World War: the employment ban after childbirth and maternity allowances were extended to six weeks. In addition, a breastfeeding bonus of half sick pay was introduced up to the twelfth week. Up to four weeks of sick pay for pregnant women were only stipulated as an optional provision if they waived gainful employment for this period before giving birth. However, the health insurers were also given the right to only pay out the benefits to those women who had recently given birth and who had been employed subject to compulsory insurance for at least six months before the delivery.

With the end of the monarchy and the establishment of the First Republic , bourgeois women also campaigned for better maternity protection. At the request of the Christian Social Representative Hildegard Burjan , the constituent national assembly decided in 1919 to expand the protection of mothers and babies. With the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain , Austria undertook to ratify the Washington Convention on the Employment of Women Before and After Childbirth . The health insurance was renewed in several partial reforms. The most important changes that were decisive for maternity protection included the six-week “mother's aid” program, introduced in 1921, in the amount of sick pay for all insured workers before childbirth and the insurance of home workers and domestic helpers in the statutory health insurance. In 1927, a waiting period was put in place to put a stop to “forcing pregnant women into insurance”: 26 weeks of insurable employment within the last year before childbirth became a prerequisite for receiving maternal and maternal support. The situation for unemployed women was unclear, which is why the health and unemployment insurance companies were able to refuse them support until 1929.

Although family and motherhood were of great political and rhetorical importance in Austrofascism , the maternity protection regulations were not extended during this time. After the annexation to National Socialist Germany, the Reich German maternity protection provisions were also introduced in the Ostmark in 1940 , but only to the extent that they contained more favorable regulations. The National Socialist Maternity Protection Act followed in 1942 (see above in the Germany section).

After the end of the Second World War, the National Socialist Maternity Protection Act was simply adopted in Austria and therefore still contained differences in entitlement between domestic and foreign or stateless mothers until 1952. In 1957 a completely new Maternity Protection Act was passed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ILO : Convention on the New Version of the Convention on Maternity Protection (New Version), entered into force on 7 February 2002 in 1952 .
  2. ↑ BArbBl 1952, p. 391
  3. ↑ a b c d e The text is based on the report of the Social Security and Health Commission of the Swiss National Council of 10 November 2011 on Parliamentary Initiative No. 07.455 on the ratification of the Convention on Maternity Protection (No. 183) of the ILO, BBl 2011 1797 (PDF; 166 kB) ff. The text of the report is in the public domain as an official work.
  4. ↑ Directive 92/85 / EEC (PDF) , EUR-Lex legal provisions of the European Union
  5. ↑ Directive 2002/73 / EC (PDF) , EUR-Lex legal provisions of the European Union.
  6. ↑ Commission of the European Communities: Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 92/85 / EEC of October 19, 1992 on the implementation of measures to improve the safety and health of pregnant workers and women who have recently given birth breastfeeding workers at work (PDF; 77.3 kB), accessed on October 19, 2019
  7. ↑ Lisa Erdmann: EU reform in maternity protection: Germany defends itself against longer maternity leave. In: Spiegel Online . March 17, 2009, accessed October 20, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Maternity leave: EU plans to extend it from 14 to 20 weeks. In: Focus Online . October 20, 2010, accessed October 20, 2010 .
  9. ^ Maternity Guidelines. In: g-ba.de. Retrieved September 17, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Ordinance on the protection of mothers at work (MuSchArbV)
  11. ↑ Margit Wiederschwinger: On the employment-discriminatory effect of women's occupational safety, Institute for Higher Studies , Research Report 216, 1985, pp. 2-6.
  12. ↑ Mutterschutzgesetz 1979 - MSchG in the legal information system of the Republic of Austria RIS.
  13. ↑ Claudia Peintner: Stricter rules for maternity leave. Cases of early release of pregnant women from work increased - regulations were tightened. Wiener Zeitung, February 18, 2011, accessed on May 10, 2012 .
  14. ↑ Term of protection. HELP.gv.at, January 1, 2012, accessed on May 10, 2012 : “Protection period means that female employees may not be employed in the last eight weeks before the birth and eight weeks after the birth. In the case of multiple or premature births or a caesarean section, a protection period of twelve weeks after the birth applies. NOTE Under certain circumstances, an individual prohibition of employment (colloquially "early maternity leave" or "early maternity leave") may exist before the statutory protection period. If the child is born earlier than expected, this eight-week protection period is extended by the number of days by which the child was born earlier, but 16 weeks is the maximum. "
  15. ^ Ordinance of the EAER on dangerous and arduous work during pregnancy and maternity (maternity protection ordinance) of March 20, 2001 (as of July 1, 2015). In: admin.ch. Retrieved October 3, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Finland - motherhood. In: lexsoft.de. Techniker Krankenkasse, archived from the original on August 3, 2012 ; accessed on July 29, 2019 .
  17. ^ Maternity leave in France. In: infobest.eu. December 18, 2015, accessed January 7, 2018 .
  18. ↑ MISSOC: motherhood. European Commission, accessed June 27, 2010 .
  19. ↑ Parental allowance and parental leave (Föräldraförsäkring och föräldraledighet). A field report from Sweden. (PDF; 156 kB) Prognos AG, on behalf of the BMFSFJ, January 22, 2005, accessed on January 17, 2008 . P. 7 .
  20. ↑ Slovenia. European Commission, accessed June 27, 2010 .
  21. ^ Gerda Neyer: The development of maternity leave in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from 1877 to 1945 . In: Ute Gerhard (ed.): Women in the history of law. From the early modern times to the present . Verlag CH Beck , Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42866-5 , p. 744, 756 .
  22. ^ Gerda Neyer: The development of maternity leave in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from 1877 to 1945 . In: Ute Gerhard (ed.): Women in the history of law. From the early modern times to the present . Verlag CHBeck , Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42866-5 , section 1: The development of maternity protection in Switzerland, p. 744-748 .
  23. ↑ Federal Commission for Women's Issues: Maternity Insurance, in: Frauen, Macht. History - On the history of equality in Switzerland 1848–2000, chap. 3.4, 2001.
  24. ↑ Template No. 513 Amendment of October 3, 2003 to the Federal Act on Income Compensation Regulations for Service Providers in the Army, Community Service and Civil Protection (Income Compensation Act, EOG), reference: BBl 2004 6641.
  25. ^ Gerda Neyer: The development of maternity leave in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from 1877 to 1945 . In: Ute Gerhard (ed.): Women in the history of law. From the early modern times to the present . Verlag CHBeck , Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42866-5 , Section 2: The development of maternity protection in Germany, p. 748-754 .
  26. ^ Gerda Neyer: The development of maternity leave in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from 1877 to 1945 . In: Ute Gerhard (ed.): Women in the history of law. From the early modern times to the present . Verlag CHBeck , Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42866-5 , Section 3: The development of maternity protection in Austria, p. 754-757 .