Planning parental leave in several blocks – does dismissal protection apply afresh to each one?

If you take parental leave in several separate blocks, it is only natural to wonder whether dismissal protection covers just the first block. The answer turns on each notification individually – with clear deadlines.

You are planning to take your parental leave not all at once, but in stages – for example a full year straight after the birth, and then a few more months later on, when your child starts school. Now you are worried whether your employer is allowed to dismiss you precisely in the gap in between, or whether dismissal protection covers each individual block.

In short

Yes: the special protection against dismissal under § 18 BEEG applies to each block of parental leave separately – regardless of whether several blocks are notified in a single letter or one after another. That protection only begins, however, at the earliest 8 or 14 weeks before the start of the block in question, even where that block was notified much earlier. What matters, therefore, is that you observe the notification deadlines for each block properly, and that you work out for each block individually from what point the protection actually takes hold.

How I can help you

• Checking whether, and from when, dismissal protection applies to your particular parental-leave plans
• Monitoring the deadlines for each planned block, so that no gap in protection arises
• Responding to a dismissal that has already been issued – checking the deadline for an unfair dismissal claim
• Handling communication with your employer where they dispute the protection or claim to have official permission to make an exception
• Coordinating your parental-leave and part-time plans with your entitlement to parental allowance

Advance-effect dismissal protection – how it works

§ 18(1) BEEG does not protect you only once your parental leave begins, but already before that – with “advance effect”, as the legal term has it. The protection takes hold from the point at which you have requested parental leave from your employer, but at the earliest:

• 8 weeks before the start, where the block falls before your child’s third birthday,
• 14 weeks before the start, where the block falls between your child’s third and eighth birthday.

During the parental leave itself your employer is, as a rule, not permitted to dismiss you at all – exceptions are allowed only by the competent regional authority in special cases, for example where the business is being closed down. Under § 18(2) BEEG the protection applies in the same way where you work part-time during your parental leave.

Each block counts on its own – this is the decisive point

If you take parental leave in several blocks, the question arises whether only the first block notified is protected, or each individual one. Under § 18(1) BEEG the position is this: if you notify several blocks of parental leave together in a single letter, the advance-effect protection begins for each of those blocks separately – calculated in each case using the 8- or 14-week lead time that applies to it, counting back from its own start. So it does not turn on whether you formally sent one letter or several, but on which block you actually notified, when, and when that block begins.

In practical terms this also means: between two blocks of parental leave – for instance where you return to work in the meantime – a gap in protection can arise. The second block is only protected once the 8- or 14-week period that applies to it begins to run before its start, even if you notified it much earlier. Only within that window is the employer unable to argue that the protection covered the first block alone.

Deadlines and form of the notification – what matters

For the protection actually to take hold, your notification must meet certain requirements:

• Written form (Textform): you must request the parental leave in text form; an email is sufficient, but a purely oral notification is not enough.
• A specific period: for each block you should state the start and – so far as it is already foreseeable – the planned duration.
• Observing the lead times: for blocks up to the third birthday you must commit yourself early on; for blocks between the third and eighth birthday an even longer lead time applies. Dismissal protection itself begins with the notification of the block in question, but at the earliest 8 or 14 weeks before its start – even a notification given considerably earlier does not bring that starting point forward.
• Binding effect: for the first two years after the birth you must specify, when you register, which periods within that time you wish to take as parental leave – later changes are possible only with the employer’s consent or within narrow statutory limits.

If you are planning several blocks at once, it is worth naming all the periods as early and as specifically as possible in a single letter – this creates clarity about the respective protection periods and leaves the employer no room to claim that a later block had “not yet been notified”.

What happens if you are dismissed despite the protection?

If your employer dismisses you even though dismissal protection under § 18 BEEG applies, that dismissal is invalid. You must, however, actively contest it: the unfair dismissal claim has to be filed with the labour court within three weeks of the dismissal reaching you, otherwise the dismissal is treated as valid – regardless of whether the protection would in fact have applied. This deadline runs irrespective of whether you first try to sort matters out with the employer out of court.

A typical case from practice

An employee notifies her employer, in text form, that she wishes to take twelve months of parental leave in her child’s first year and – in the very same message – a further three months of parental leave at the point her child starts school, several years later. After returning from the first block she goes back to working normally. Ten weeks before the planned start of the second block – that is, already within the 14-week advance-effect period that applies to it – she receives a dismissal on operational grounds. The employer argues that dismissal protection only takes hold once the parental leave actually begins. That is wrong: because the second block was notified in good time and the dismissal is issued within its own 14-week period, this block too already enjoys advance-effect protection – the dismissal is invalid, provided the employee brings her claim within the deadline.

Common mistakes

• Notifying too late or only orally: without timely notification in text form the protection does not begin on time.
• Notifying only the next block: anyone wanting to “save” later blocks for later must remember to register them in good time before their own lead time begins – otherwise protection for that block starts late. Better: name all planned blocks as early as is permitted.
• Missing the claim deadline: even a clearly invalid dismissal becomes valid after three weeks if no claim is brought.
• Relying on the employer’s oral assurances: only a notification in text form to the employer triggers the statutory deadline, not internal arrangements or informal conversations.
• Mixing up parental leave and part-time requests: anyone wishing to work part-time during parental leave should register that wish separately and, again, within the deadline, in order to benefit from the protection under § 18(2) BEEG.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to notify all the blocks of parental leave at once for the protection to apply to all of them?

No, you can notify the blocks one after another as well. All that matters is that you register each block in good time – that is, within the lead time that applies to it – in text form. If several blocks are notified in a single letter, the protection for each block still begins separately, according to its own deadline.

Does the protection also apply if I go back to work between two blocks of parental leave?

Not automatically. The advance-effect protection attaches to the notification of the block in question, but only begins at the earliest 8 or 14 weeks before that block’s own start. Between two blocks in which you are working again, a gap in protection can therefore arise, even where the next block has already been notified – you are protected for that block again only once its 8- or 14-week period before the start begins to run.

What if my employer calculates the deadline for the second block differently from me?

What is decisive is the law, not the employer’s calculation. Where the figures differ, you should have the deadlines checked by a lawyer before you accept the employer’s version – particularly with several blocks carrying different lead times, this is where miscalculations frequently occur.

Can the employer dismiss me by way of exception despite the dismissal protection?

In special cases yes, but only with the prior consent of the competent regional authority. A dismissal without that official declaration of admissibility is invalid during the protected period, even where the employer cites operational grounds.

How long do I have to challenge an invalid dismissal?

Three weeks from the dismissal reaching you. This deadline applies strictly, even where the dismissal plainly breaches the dismissal protection – if it is missed, the dismissal is treated as valid from the outset.

Your next step

If you are planning several blocks of parental leave, or have already received a dismissal even though you consider yourself protected against it – do not wait and see. Particularly with several blocks carrying different deadlines, an early review is well worth it, so that no gap in protection arises and no claim deadline slips by. You will find more on your rights around dismissal, deadlines and the employment relationship on my topic page Employment law. Arrange an initial consultation – I will check your deadlines and your situation specifically and tell you how I will act on your behalf.

This article provides general information and is no substitute for legal advice in an individual case. Last updated: 2026-08-14.

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