Checklist – Employment and financial matters before the birth of a child

• Notifying the employer
• Applying for maternity benefit
• Parents-child health passport (Eltern-Kind-Pass) examinations during pregnancy

Notifying the employer

Female employees must

• inform the employer of their pregnancy and expected due date as soon as they are known
• provide, at the request of the employer, a medical certificate attesting to the existence of the pregnancy and the expected due date
• make the employer aware of this information within the 4th week before the start of the protection period (usually 8 weeks before the delivery)
• notify the employer in the event of a premature termination of the pregnancy

If a check-up results in a change in the due date, it is recommended that the employer be informed of this.

Female employees cannot be validly dismissed during pregnancy and until four months after giving birth. In principle, the approval of the Labour and Social Security Court is required in order to dismiss an employee during pregnancy, up to four months after giving birth or up to four weeks after a miscarriage. Detailed information about the termination of employment during pregnancy, maternity protection and maternity leave can be found at oesterreich.gv.at.

Further information about the obligations to provide information and evidence und prohibitions of employment during pregnancy and before birth can also be found at oesterreich.gv.at.

Applying for maternity benefit

Maternity benefit must be applied for from the relevant sickness insurance institution. For that purpose, the necessary documents may be presented in person or sent by post.

The following documents are required when applying for maternity benefit before the birth:

• certificate of employment and earnings for the maternity benefit, or
• if you receive benefits under the Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz (AlVG) – unemployment allowance, emergency unemployment assistance – or childcare allowance before the start of the eight-week protection period: Notification of entitlement to benefits (In the case where a person receives a benefit under the Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz (AlVG) or childcare allowance, the authority responsible for disbursement issues the required “Notification of entitlement to benefits”.)
• doctor’s confirmation of the expected due date of birth or, in the case of an early protection period: certificate of exemption

If the application for maternity benefit is made after the birth, the following documents are required in addition:

• the child’s birth certificate;
• in the case of premature birth, multiple birth or caesarean section: certificate of the hospital;
• confirmation of hospitalisation.

More detailed information about the maternity benefit can be found at www.oesterreich.gv.at

Parents-child health passport examinations during pregnancy

The parents-child health passport is issued to the pregnant woman if pregnancy is identified during a medical examination. In principle, the first parents-child health passport examination must be conducted

• by the end of the 16th week of pregnancy
• by a gynaecologist, a general practitioner, in an outpatient clinic or at a pregnancy advice centre or in the outpatient department of a maternity ward.

In order to receive childcare allowance, the five examinations during pregnancy and the five examinations during the first 14 months of the child’s life must be correctly carried out and documented. Since failure to carry out an examination (or several examinations), late examinations and failure to provide proof of the examinations to the sickness insurance fund will lead to a reduction in the childcare allowance (from the age of 25, 17, 13 or 10 months, depending on the type of benefit chosen), the examinations must be carried out within the prescribed periods.

Only under certain circumstances is it possible to deviate from the prescribed examination dates.

The examination programme for pregnant women can be found at oesterreich.gv.at.