15 days of leave
of which statutory: 10 days · for guidance only
How it was calculated
| Statutory annual leave | 24 days (6-day week) × 5 ÷ 6 | 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Contractual annual leave | 30 × 5 ÷ 5 | 30 |
| Entitlement for the year | the higher of statutory and contractual | 30 |
| Parental leave cut, § 17 BEEG | 30 × 6/12 | − 15 |
Can your employer reduce your leave because of parental leave?
Yes, it can, but it does not have to. Under § 17(1) sentence 1 of the Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG), your employer may reduce your annual leave by one twelfth for each full calendar month of parental leave. Leave still builds up during parental leave, even though your work is suspended. If your employer does not reduce it, you keep all of it (Federal Labour Court, BAG, 17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10).
The reduction does not happen by itself. Your employer has to declare it to you, expressly or implicitly, for example by granting only the reduced leave. It can do this before, during or after parental leave, but only once you have requested parental leave, and only while you are still employed (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 495/17).
Your employer may reduce both the statutory and the contractual leave, unless your employment contract, a works agreement or a collective agreement gives you something better (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 362/18). The BAG holds that the rule is compatible with EU law, relying on the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU, 4 October 2018, C-12/17, Dicu). The additional leave for severely disabled people can be reduced too, because the rules on reducing the statutory minimum leave apply to it (BAG, 13 December 2011, 9 AZR 399/10). The BAG calculated it that way as well: 35 days minus one twelfth is 32.08 days (BAG, 17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10).
How are the full calendar months counted?
Only calendar months that fall entirely within parental leave, from the first day to the last, count. Part months at the start and at the end do not lead to a cut. If parental leave runs from 16 August to 15 October, only September is a full month, so the reduction is one twelfth.
The reduction applies to the leave for each leave year. If parental leave runs over the turn of the year, count the full months in each calendar year separately. § 17 BEEG has no rounding rule, and the BAG worked with fractions (30 days minus one twelfth is 27.5 days, BAG, 17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10). The calculator shows fractions in the same way.
The table shows what remains after the reduction. German law sets the statutory minimum at 24 Werktage (§ 3(1) of the Federal Leave Act, BUrlG). Werktage run from Monday to Saturday, so the 24 days are days on a six-day week. On a five-day week, they equal 20 days.
| Full calendar months of parental leave | Statutory (20 days) | Contract (28 days) | Contract (30 days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 20 | 28 | 30 |
| 1 | 18.33 | 25.67 | 27.5 |
| 2 | 16.67 | 23.33 | 25 |
| 3 | 15 | 21 | 22.5 |
| 4 | 13.33 | 18.67 | 20 |
| 5 | 11.67 | 16.33 | 17.5 |
| 6 | 10 | 14 | 15 |
| 7 | 8.33 | 11.67 | 12.5 |
| 8 | 6.67 | 9.33 | 10 |
| 9 | 5 | 7 | 7.5 |
| 10 | 3.33 | 4.67 | 5 |
| 11 | 1.67 | 2.33 | 2.5 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Is leave reduced if you work part-time during parental leave?
Not if you work for your own employer. § 17(1) sentence 2 BEEG rules out the reduction if you work part-time for your employer during parental leave. You may work up to 32 hours a week, averaged over the month (§ 15(4) BEEG), or up to 30 for children born before 1 September 2021 (§ 28(1) BEEG).
The exception only names your own employer. If you work for a different employer with your employer's consent (§ 15(4) sentence 3 BEEG), the wording of the law still allows the reduction.
For the part-time months, your leave follows your new working days per week (§ 4(1) of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act, TzBfG). So in the calculator, enter the change under "Working days change from" and "New working days per week", and leave "Calendar months of parental leave cut" empty. If you work part-time for only part of your parental leave, the law does not say expressly whether your employer may cut the full calendar months without part-time work. If it does cut them, enter those months as well; the calculator then cuts one twelfth of the whole year's leave for each month. More on the page on part-time annual leave.
What happens to leave left over from before parental leave?
You keep it. If you had not received all of your leave before parental leave began, your employer must grant the rest after parental leave, in the current or the next leave year (§ 17(2) BEEG). It does not lapse during parental leave (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 495/17).
It also works the other way round. If you received more leave before parental leave than you are entitled to after the reduction, your employer may reduce your leave after parental leave by the extra days it granted (§ 17(4) BEEG).
If the employment ends during parental leave, or does not continue after it, your employer must pay you for any leave not yet granted: this is payment in lieu of untaken leave (§ 17(3) BEEG). Once the employment has ended, your employer can no longer reduce your leave (BAG, 19 May 2015, 9 AZR 725/13). For your entitlement in the year you leave, see the page on annual leave when leaving a job.
Can your employer also reduce leave for maternity protection (Mutterschutz)?
No. The protection periods of six weeks before and eight weeks after the birth (§ 3 of the Maternity Protection Act, MuSchG) and other bans on employment (Beschäftigungsverbote) count as time worked for leave purposes (§ 24 sentence 1 MuSchG). Full leave builds up for this time, and the law does not provide for a reduction.
For mothers, parental leave usually begins only after the protection period. The protection period after the birth counts towards the maximum length of parental leave (§ 15(2) sentence 3 BEEG), but for your annual leave it counts as time worked.
If you had not taken all your leave before a ban on employment, you can take the rest after the ban ends, in the current or the next leave year (§ 24 sentence 2 MuSchG). If parental leave follows straight on, your employer grants this remaining leave after parental leave under § 17(2) BEEG (BAG, 15 December 2015, 9 AZR 52/15).
Examples
Five typical cases for 2026, each with 30 days in the contract for a 5-day week. The figures come from the calculator above.
30 days of leave, six full months of parental leave
Parental leave runs from 1 January to 30 June 2026, and the employer declares the reduction. Six twelfths of 30 days are cut, which leaves 15 days. The statutory share falls from 20 to 10 days.
Result: 15 days, of which 10 statutory
Two months of parental leave from mid-month
A father takes parental leave from 16 August to 15 October 2026. Only September lies fully within it. The leave is reduced by one twelfth: 30 minus 2.5 is 27.5 days. The BAG calculated the same way (17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10).
Result: 27.5 days, of which 18.33 statutory
Parental leave over the turn of the year
Parental leave runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. Ten full months count for 2026, which leaves 5 days. Two months count for 2027, which leaves 25 days in that year. If you did not take the 5 days for 2026 before parental leave, your employer grants them afterwards (§ 17(2) BEEG).
Result: 5 days, of which 3.33 statutory
The whole year on parental leave
If all of 2026 falls within parental leave and the employer reduces the leave, there is no leave for that year. If the employer does not declare the reduction, all 30 days remain and are granted after parental leave.
Result: 0 days, of which 0 statutory
Part-time for your own employer
Parental leave from 1 July 2026, working part-time for the same employer on 3 days a week. A reduction is ruled out, so "Calendar months of parental leave cut" stays empty. Instead, set "Working days change from" to July and "New working days per week" to 3: 15 days for January to June, 9 days for July to December. The days earned in the full-time months are not converted (BAG, 10 February 2015, 9 AZR 53/14 (F)).
Result: 24 days, of which 16 statutory
Legal basis
- § 17(1) BEEG
The employer may reduce the annual leave an employee is entitled to for the leave year by one twelfth for each full calendar month of parental leave. This does not apply if the employee works part-time for their employer during parental leave.
- § 17(2) BEEG
If the employee did not receive the leave due to them, or not all of it, before parental leave began, the employer must grant the remaining leave after parental leave, in the current or the next leave year.
- § 17(3) BEEG
If the employment ends during parental leave, or does not continue after it, the employer must pay the employee in lieu of the leave not yet granted.
- § 17(4) BEEG
If the employee received more leave before parental leave began than they are entitled to under subsection 1, the employer may reduce the leave due after parental leave ends by the days granted in excess.
- § 15(2) sentence 3 BEEG
For the mother's parental leave, the maternity protection period under § 3(2) and (3) of the Maternity Protection Act counts towards the maximum length of parental leave set in sentences 1 and 2.
- § 28(1) BEEG
For children born or taken in for adoption before 1 September 2021, the Act continues to apply as it stood until 31 August 2021, so for part-time work during parental leave the limit is 30 hours a week.
- § 15(4) BEEG
During parental leave, employees may not work more than 32 hours a week, averaged over the month. Part-time work for another employer, or self-employment, needs the employer's consent.
- § 24 MuSchG
When the entitlement to paid annual leave is calculated, time off because of a ban on employment counts as time worked. A woman who has not taken all of her leave before a ban on employment may take the rest after it ends, in the current or the next leave year.
- § 3 MuSchG
A protection period in the last six weeks before the birth (subsection 1) and until eight weeks after it, or twelve weeks after premature and multiple births and in some other cases (subsection 2).
- § 3(1) BUrlG
Leave amounts to at least 24 Werktage (Monday to Saturday) a year.
- § 4(1) TzBfG
A part-time employee must receive a divisible benefit in money or money's worth at least in the proportion that their working time bears to the working time of a comparable full-time employee.
- § 7(3) and (4) BUrlG
Leave must be granted and taken in the current calendar year. Carrying it over into the first three months of the next year is allowed only if urgent operational reasons or reasons relating to the employee personally justify it (subsection 3). If leave can no longer be granted, in whole or in part, because the employment has ended, it must be paid in lieu (subsection 4).
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10: Leave also builds up during parental leave; it is reduced only for each full calendar month, so parental leave from 16 August to 15 October means a cut of one twelfth (30 to 27.5 days).
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 13 December 2011, 9 AZR 399/10: The rules on how statutory minimum leave arises, is carried over, reduced and paid in lieu apply to the additional leave for severely disabled people.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 495/17: The reduction needs a declaration while the employment lasts, made before, during or after parental leave, but not before parental leave has been requested; leave that may be reduced does not lapse during parental leave.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 362/18: § 17(1) sentence 1 BEEG allows the employer to reduce statutory leave and, unless something more favourable was agreed, contractual leave too; the rule is compatible with EU law, and the reduction can also be declared implicitly, for example by granting only the reduced leave.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 19 May 2015, 9 AZR 725/13: Once the employment has ended, the employer can no longer reduce the claim to payment in lieu of untaken leave under § 17(1) BEEG.
- Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), 4 October 2018, C-12/17 (Dicu): EU law does not require parental leave to count as a period of actual work when paid annual leave is calculated.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 10 February 2015, 9 AZR 53/14 (F): Leave days earned while working full-time may not be reduced when the employee moves to fewer working days per week.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 15 December 2015, 9 AZR 52/15: If parental leave directly follows a ban on employment, leave not taken before it is governed solely by § 17(2) BEEG from the start of parental leave.
As of 14 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The employment is suspended, but leave still builds up (BAG, 17 May 2011, 9 AZR 197/10). It goes down only if your employer declares the reduction under § 17(1) BEEG. It does not lapse during parental leave (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 495/17).
§ 17 BEEG does not prescribe any form. The declaration can also be implicit, for example when your employer grants only the reduced leave (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 362/18). But it must reach you while you are still employed.
Yes. § 17 BEEG applies to mothers and fathers alike. But a short parental leave often includes only one full calendar month, or none at all. The reduction is then small, or there is none.
No. The deadlines in § 7(3) BUrlG after which leave lapses do not apply during parental leave (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 495/17). Your employer must grant leave left over from before parental leave afterwards, in the current or the next leave year (§ 17(2) BEEG).
Yes. If the employment ends during parental leave or does not continue after it, your employer must pay you in lieu of the leave not yet granted (§ 17(3) BEEG). If it ends later, the same applies under § 7(4) BUrlG. Once the employment has ended, your employer can no longer reduce the leave (BAG, 19 May 2015, 9 AZR 725/13).
How Worklayer calculates it
In Worklayer, leave policies calculate leave entitlement automatically: pro rata from the start and leaving dates, pro rata for part-time work, with carry-over into the next year and an entitlement that builds up over the year. Everyone can see their balance at any time, and there are policy templates for 13 countries and public holidays for 204 countries.
More calculators
Note: this calculator gives a non-binding, automated calculation based on the statutory minimum rules of German law (as of 14 October 2026). It is not legal advice and does not replace an individual review of your case. Collective agreements, works agreements and employment contracts may contain different or more favourable rules, which are only taken into account here as far as you enter them. For a binding answer, please contact a lawyer specialising in employment law, your works council, or your trade union or employers' association. To the extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for the accuracy, completeness or currency of the results. What you enter is processed only in your browser and is neither stored nor transmitted.