Court Rejects 'Single-Application' Logic for Parental Leave Dismissal Protection
20.06.2026 - 02:32:30 | boerse-global.de
When a German employee requests several separate parental leave periods in a single application, the clock on dismissal protection restarts before each one. That is the central message from a June 18 ruling by the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) in Erfurt (case 2 AZR 213/25).
In the case at hand, a worker had applied for four stretches of parental leave for his child, running from July 2024 through July 2027. The employer handed over a dismissal notice in October 2024 – without first obtaining the mandatory approval of the competent state authority. The court declared the termination void. Why? Because the employee had already entered the protective window for the next leave period at the moment the notice was delivered.
Under § 18 paragraph 1 of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG), the so-called advance dismissal protection comes into effect exactly eight weeks before the start of each requested parental leave segment. The panel of judges emphasised that this rule applies even when the worker lists all desired time blocks in one single request. Each segment triggers its own eight-week shield.
This protection operates regardless of whether the employee is still in their probationary period or has not yet completed the six-month waiting period required by the general Dismissal Protection Act (Kündigungsschutzgesetz). Employers cannot sidestep the safeguard by ending the contract shortly before a new leave phase begins.
The advance protection kicks in no earlier than eight weeks before the start of any notified parental leave period and lasts until the child reaches the age of three. While parental leave is actually running, a broader dismissal ban applies. Terminations during those phases are possible only in exceptional circumstances and require prior approval from the state supervisory authority.
With this ruling, the Federal Labour Court confirmed a decision handed down by the Hamm Regional Labour Court on November 5, 2025. The higher judges underscored that the interpretation gives parents reliable planning security when they want to spread their statutory child-care entitlement flexibly over several years.
