‘Parental Leave Shield Resets Each Time’: German Court Hands Employers a Setback on Dismissals and Notice Standards

When an employee splits parental leave into separate blocks, the full statutory protection against dismissal is renewed before every single segment – even if that employee is still on probation. That was the central finding of a landmark ruling handed down by Germany’s Federal Labour Court (BAG) on 18 June 2026 (docket number 2 AZR 213/25), which reinterpreted Section 18 of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG).

For employers, the practical consequences are immediate. The special protection kicks in as soon as a worker notifies the company of the upcoming leave – at the earliest eight weeks before the start of a given phase – and lasts for the entire duration of that segment. Lawyers warn that firms must now carefully track each notice period, especially when dealing with new hires who have not yet completed their probationary period.

Navigating employment law in Germany demands careful tracking of notices and deadlines – and UK employers face their own set of compliance duties. Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, businesses must keep documented risk assessments and safety policies. A free Health & Safety Toolkit provides ready-to-use templates, checklists, and toolbox talks to help you meet UK requirements without starting from scratch. Download the free Health & Safety Toolkit

In a separate but equally consequential ruling on 7 May 2026 (docket number 2 AZR 184/25), the same court tightened the formal requirements for delivering termination letters. The BAG held that sending a letter by “Einwurf-Einschreiben” – a type of certified mail where the postal carrier scans the envelope and then drops it into the recipient’s mailbox – does not reliably prove that the addressee actually received the document. The problem, the court explained, lies in the postal service’s scanning procedure: the delivery is recorded before the letter has physically entered the mailbox. Legal experts therefore recommend that employers switch to safer methods such as hand-delivery in front of witnesses, courier service, or even involving a bailiff – particularly for dismissals and invitations to the mandatory company reintegration process (Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, or BEM).

The heightened judicial scrutiny of termination procedures was also evident in a case before the Labour Court of Arnsberg. A nursery school teacher was accused of poaching colleagues and faced summary dismissal. The court struck down the termination as invalid, pointing out that the employer had spent four weeks investigating the allegations before acting – far too slow for an extraordinary dismissal – and had also failed to issue a prior warning (Abmahnung). The message to employers is unambiguous: delaying or skipping a warning can render even a justified dismissal unenforceable.

A separate decision from the Labour Court of Bielefeld underscores the financial risk. After a redundancy-related termination, the court awarded the employee a severance multiplier of 1.6 – nearly 58 percent more than the employer’s original offer. Such rulings, labour lawyers note, make successful wrongful-dismissal claims increasingly expensive for companies.

On the legislative front, the federal cabinet has submitted a bill to modernise Germany’s labour-market policy. The proposed reform introduces a “Job-to-Job-Erprobung” (employment try-out) that would allow workers in struggling industries to test a new post for up to four weeks without having to resign from their current contract. The measure is designed to ease transitions between jobs during structural change.

Meanwhile, a study by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) traced the long-term impact of the legal entitlement to a daycare place, which was introduced in 2013. Analysing data from 2012 to 2022, researchers found that fathers have become more likely to take parental leave, while mothers tend to return to work earlier than before the policy change. Nevertheless, the authors note, the distribution of unpaid care work remains uneven.

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