03.11.2023 New maternity protection law from 01.01.2018

Since 01.01.2018, the Maternity Protection Act also applies to female students.

The version of the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG) that has been in force since January 1, 2018 also takes schoolgirls and students into account for the first time. This applies in particular to the newly formulated Section 3 of the Act, which concerns compliance with maternity protection periods.

According to the current legal situation, both employees and pupils/students may now make use of a 6-week protection period before the expected date of delivery.
If they do not wish to do so, a written declaration of consent to continue working/participating in the training must be submitted to the employer or training institution. As before, the pregnant woman has the right to withdraw this declaration of consent at any time without giving reasons and to use the remaining time before the birth as a protection period.

After giving birth, employees must strictly adhere to a protection period of 8 weeks (12 weeks in the case of twin births), a period of time in which they are not allowed not work.
As with the protection period before the birth, scholars/students are free to decide whether or not to take advantage of this protection period. The same regulations apply with regard to a written declaration of consent to their place of training.

Furthermore, for scholars/students who inform their training institution of their pregnancy risk assessments must be set up immediately, which specifically address whether the pregnant woman is exposed to dangerous sources of radiation, hazardous substances or similar in the course of her training. If this is the case, the training center must ensure that the courses are redesigned in such a way that the pregnant woman can participate safely.

For further information and the current version of the MuSchG follow the link.

What does this mean for the physics department/FB 13?

Female employees of FB 13 can (and should in the interest of their safety) inform their supervisor about their pregnancy. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, we as women's representatives are of course also available as contact persons! It is then the responsibility of the supervisor, together with the pregnant woman and the safety officer of the department to prepare a risk assessment of all areas of the pregnant woman's work and, if necessary, to take measures to eliminate hazards.

Female students are strongly advised to report their pregnancy to the department as soon as possible due to the potential dangers in the physics practical course and other events. The best contacts in this case are the Dean of Studies or we, the Women's Representatives. It is then the task of the Dean of Studies, together with the lecturers concerned and, if necessary, the safety officer of the department to prepare a risk assessment for all courses in which the pregnant woman is currently participating and, if necessary, to take measures to eliminate sources of danger or to enable the pregnant woman to continue participating in the relevant courses in another way.