If you are pregnant, please let us know as soon as possible. Please submit a copy of the maternity record or a medical certificate with the calculated date of birth to the HR Department as a proof. If you are exposed to any risks in the workplace, please talk to your gynaecologist. To arrange for a risk assessment to be carried out, please directly contact the safety engineers of HTW Berlin.

 As an expectant mother, you are released from work for medical examinations conducted within the scope of statutory health insurance. Please

• inform your manager when you are attending to a medical examination,
• enter these times in your working hours record and
• provide your manager with a certificate from your doctor together with your working hours record for flexitime at the end of the month.

Maternity leave usually lasts 14 weeks, starting six weeks before the calculated date of birth and ending eight weeks after the birth. If your child is born earlier than expected, the remaining time from the six weeks prior to the birth will be added to the eight weeks after the birth to ensure a minimum total of 14 weeks. If you child arrives later than planned, the eight weeks will start from the actual date of birth. In the case of premature births (under 2500 grams) or multiple births, maternity leave is extended to 12 weeks after birth. The HR Department will notify you of the start of maternity leave in a letter and will also inform your health insurance provider and the safety engineers at HTW about your pregnancy.

As a mother, you can take parental leave after maternity leave. As the other parent of the child, you can take parental leave directly after the birth of the child. You must submit your binding parental leave declaration in writing to the HR Department at the latest seven weeks before the calculated date of birth.

You are entitled to claim a parental allowance if you work a maximum of 30 hours per week and live in Germany. During this time you are protected against dismissal from your job. Detailed information on the three parental allowance variants — Basiselterngeld, ElterngeldPlus and Partnerschaftsbonus — can be found in the brochure "Elterngeld, ElterngeldPlus und Elternzeit [PDF]. You can calculate your personal entitlement with the parental allowance calculator of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

The HR Department will advertise your position for the respective period of time in coordination with your manager. To enable cover to be organised for the duration of your maternity leave, especially as it may fall within a restricted employment period, you should inform the HR Department about your pregnancy as soon as possible. Please attach:

• a certificate stating the calculated date of birth
• information about how long you wish to take parental leave for

Your health insurance provider will pay you a maternity allowance of up to 13 euros per day during this period. The difference between the maternity allowance and your average net salary for the last three months (without taking into account any one-off paid remuneration) will be paid to you by HTW Berlin for the duration of maternity leave to subsidise your maternity allowance. You can apply to your health insurance provider for your maternity allowance at the earliest seven weeks before the calculated date of birth, as the medical certificate can only be issued one week before the start of the maternity leave period.

During parental leave you will not receive any salary from HTW Berlin unless you are working part time. Instead, you are entitled to claim a parental allowance. If you do not work during parental leave, your employment is suspended and so is the advancement of your employment level.

Providing you work no more than 30 hours per week, you will receive a parental allowance of at least 300 euros per month if you are claiming Basiselterngeld and 150 euros if you are claiming to ElterngeldPlus — regardless how much you earn. You are still covered by dismissal protection. You can calculate your personal entitlement according to the different variants with the parental allowance calculator of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

In general, maternity leave and parental leave do not constitute grounds for an extension of an existing fixed-term employment contract. The employment contract will end as agreed, even during the period of maternity or parental leave.

As an employee, you are entitled to look after your child when your child is ill or needs care. More information can be found on the intranet.