Anyone who has become a father or mother often takes parental leave. So that employees can look after their offspring without worrying about their professional future, they are entitled to special protection against dismissal after submitting an application in accordance with Section 18 Paragraph 1 of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG). The Federal Labor Court (BAG) decided on Thursday that this protection does not only apply once, but “before every period” when parental leave is divided.
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BAG, judgment of June 18, 2026, Ref. 2 AZR 213/25
LAG Hamm, judgment of November 5, 2025, Ref. 11 SLa 394/25
Lower court: ArbG Münster, judgment of March 22, 2025, case number 4 Ca 1549/24
That’s what it was about
The lawsuit was filed by a man in his mid-forties who had been employed as a technician in the civil engineering department of a municipality since July 2024. The man applied for parental leave at the end of the month and, according to the court, advised the following distribution:
“I will take full-time parental leave in the first month of my daughter’s life (July 11, 2024 to August 10, 2024 – 1st period) and probably in the 13th month of her life (July 11, 2025 to August 10, 2025 – 3rd period).
The 2nd section of my parental leave begins on November 11th, 2024 and ends on July 10th, 2025 and the 4th section of my parental leave begins on August 11th, 2025 and ends on July 10th, 2027. During these times I would like to temporarily reduce my weekly working hours to 24 hours a week. I divide these hours over three working days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday).”
At the beginning of August, the employer approved the requested time off in the proposed form. Two months later, however, he contacted the responsible personnel council and asked them to agree to terminate the technician’s probationary period. After the committee announced that it did not want to make use of its “right to be heard”, the municipality gave the man notice of termination on October 9, 2024 at the end of the month and “alternatively at the next possible date”.
When does protection against dismissal apply?
However, the employee went to court and argued that the expulsion violated the law’s ban on dismissal. Finally, the special protection in accordance with Section 18 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 No. 1 BEEG exists “before each period of parental leave”, in his case eight weeks before November 11th, 2024 and especially upon receipt of the notice of termination.
The Münster Labor Court agreed with this legal opinion and, in the first instance, sentenced the employer to continue employing the technician. But the municipality did not want to accept this and appealed. In particular, she pointed out that “the eight-week grace period did not begin again before the start of the second part of the parental leave requested by the plaintiff.” Therefore the termination is legal.
However, the application was unsuccessful before the LAG Hamm. Instead, the chamber confirmed the lower court’s vote. The reasoning was that “the purpose of the advanced protection against dismissal is to protect the employee from the employer terminating him in view of an upcoming parental leave.”
It is true that an employee who spreads parental leave over several periods of time undoubtedly entails “a particularly high level of representation work for the employer”. However, “to place such employees under the protection of Section 612a BGB alone in this light would be unfair and at the same time contrary to the system in view of the protection against dismissal expressly advanced in accordance with Section 18 Paragraph 1 BEEG,” said the judges in Westphalia.
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18 BEEG (protection against dismissal) states:
“(1) The employer may not terminate the employment relationship from the point at which parental leave was requested. Protection against dismissal in accordance with sentence 1 begins
- at the earliest eight weeks before the start of parental leave until the child is three years old and
- at the earliest 14 weeks before the start of parental leave between the child’s third birthday and the child’s eighth year of life.
The employer may not terminate the employment relationship during parental leave. In special cases, termination may be declared permissible as an exception. The declaration of admissibility is made by the highest state authority responsible for occupational safety or the body designated by it. The Federal Government may, with the consent of the Bundesrat, issue general administrative regulations to implement sentence 4.
(2) Paragraph 1 applies accordingly if employees
- work part-time for the same employer during parental leave or
- without taking parental leave, do part-time work and are entitled to parental allowance according to § 1 during the period according to § 4 paragraph 1 sentences 2, 3 and 5.”
It depends on the wording of the law
For the LAG, the decisive factor for this assessment was the exact wording in the law: And it says that protection begins “before the start of parental leave”.
The Chamber says: “The use of the indefinite article suggests that protection against dismissal should apply before the start of every parental leave, not just a specific one, especially the first.”
In this respect, the labor court rightly recognized that “pre-emptive protection against dismissal can and should be applied multiple times if parental leave is taken in proportions”.
The termination therefore remains invalid because it was given within the protection period before the second period of parental leave. The technician’s employment relationship continues accordingly. Due to its fundamental importance, an appeal was admitted to the Federal Labor Court.
Revision without success
But the BAG also rejected the employer’s argument and finally declared the termination to be invalid “according to Section 134 BGB in conjunction with Section 18 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 No. 1 BEEG”. To justify this, the Second Senate writes:
“According to Section 16 Paragraph 1 Sentence 6 BEEG, each parent can spread parental leave over several periods of time. This gives employees the opportunity to request parental leave several times – in periods. It follows from the wording of Section 18 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1, 2 No. 1 BEEG that the pre-effective protection against dismissal applies to each of these requests for parental leave.
This also corresponds to the legal purpose of not allowing the protection against dismissal regulated in Section 18 Paragraph 1 Sentence 3 BEEG to run dry during parental leave by allowing the employer to terminate the employment relationship shortly before the start of parental leave. According to the wording of the standard, it is irrelevant whether the employee makes a request before each period of parental leave or – as in the case in dispute – requests parental leave for several periods in one letter.
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Practical tip for HR
The decision strengthens the special protection against dismissal for employees who divide their parental leave into several periods. Employers should therefore observe the protection periods several times and before the start of each individual section, as long as the legal situation remains valid. Only in special cases can termination be declared admissible during parental leave – namely if the highest state authority responsible for occupational safety or a body designated by it explicitly agrees to the termination.
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The most important judgments on the subject of parental leave:
- “A purpose limitation for parental leave replacement in accordance with Section 21 Paragraph 1, Paragraph 3 BEEG does not require that the regular employee has already expressed a request for parental leave that meets the requirements of Section 16 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 BEEG at the time the contract is concluded with the substitute employee.”
(BAG, judgment of September 9, 2015, Ref. 7 AZR 148/14).This means: A fixed-term employment contract with a substitute can be concluded even if the application for parental leave has not yet been submitted.
- “In accordance with Section 315 Paragraph 1 BGB, the employer must decide at its reasonable discretion whether to grant the consent required to extend parental leave in accordance with Section 16 Paragraph 3 Sentence 1 BEEG.”
(BAG, judgment of October 18, 2011, ref. 9 AZR 315/10).This means that the employer is not free in his decision. He must weigh his interests against those of the employee. If this is done incorrectly, a court can replace its decision.
- “If an employee sues for approval of part-time employment during parental leave that he or she previously unsuccessfully applied for, the employer can only object in the process to reasons contrary to parental leave in the sense of Section 15 Para. 7 Sentence 1 No. 4 BEEG (as amended on September 10, 2012) which he has already referred to in a formally and timely rejection letter.”
This means: If employees sue for consent to part-time work during parental leave, employers may only cite the reasons in the process that they have already given in a legal, formal and timely rejection letter. It is not permissible to add new reasons until the court proceedings take place.
(BAG, judgment of December 11, 2018, ref. 9 AZR 298/18).
(This post originally appeared on January 9, 2026 and was last updated on June 19, 2026)
Frank Strankmann is an editor and writes offline and online. His focus is on the topics of labor law, co-determination and regulation. He is also responsible for other projects for media brands from FAZ Business Media GmbH.
