Parental Leave Calculator

Around the birth of a child several sets of rules descend on you at once in Germany. The Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG) governs how much money you get and how long you may stay home, the Maternity Protection Act shields the last weeks before and the first weeks after birth, and dismissal protection keeps your job safe. The parental leave calculator combines these strands into one tool so you do not have to juggle three laws at once.

The core is the Elterngeld calculation. Basic Elterngeld replaces part of your lost net income, a higher share for lower incomes, at least 300 and at most 1,800 euros a month. Anyone working 24 to 32 hours a week part-time can choose ElterngeldPlus instead of the basic allowance: half the amount but for twice as long, and with the partnership bonus there are four extra months if both parents work part-time at the same time.

The calculator also accounts for the supplements that are easily overlooked. For siblings under three or several children under six there is the sibling bonus of ten percent, at least 75 euros a month. For twins or triplets 300 euros are added per additional child. Anyone unaware of these supplements gives away real money - the tool shows them automatically.

On a timeline you see your benefit months arranged by colour: basic Elterngeld, ElterngeldPlus, partnership bonus and the maternity protection period. The crediting matters here: the post-birth maternity protection period is automatically counted towards parental leave (§ 15 para. 2 sentence 3 BEEG). The calculator implements this correctly so you plan your available months right and do not count any twice.

The deadlines and dismissal protection should not be underestimated either. Parental leave must be registered with the employer in writing at least seven weeks before it starts (§ 16 BEEG), and special dismissal protection begins at the earliest eight weeks before the planned start. The calculator maps out this timeline and generates the formally correct registration letter, which you only have to print and sign - because written form is mandatory, an email is not enough.

The parental leave calculator is a planning aid, not an Elterngeld decision. The binding calculation is done by the Elterngeld office, which bases it on your actual income from the relevant months. But for the decision on how to split the months between both parents and when to build in part-time work, it is exactly the tool you would otherwise be missing.