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A standardised letter from European HR regarding my maternal leave

I am from Austria where I work and I recently told my employer that I'm pregnant. That's obligatory since they are now obligated to stick to a lot of special laws, i.e. they are now unable to let me go until I am back from maternity leave, even if I choose to stay away for 2 years. So, our HR sent me this standardised letter (translated from German): Dear colleague, we congratulate you on having a baby and want to inform you about all the necessary steps. We need a doctor's notice about your estimated due date. If the due date changes, send us a new notice. Your leave will start 8 weeks before your estimated due date. Your PTO will be calculated until after 8 weeks of the birth of your baby. You may choose if you want to use up your PTO before your maternity leave or keep…


I am from Austria where I work and I recently told my employer that I'm pregnant. That's obligatory since they are now obligated to stick to a lot of special laws, i.e. they are now unable to let me go until I am back from maternity leave, even if I choose to stay away for 2 years.

So, our HR sent me this standardised letter (translated from German):

Dear colleague,

we congratulate you on having a baby and want to inform you about all the necessary steps.

We need a doctor's notice about your estimated due date. If the due date changes, send us a new notice.

Your leave will start 8 weeks before your estimated due date. Your PTO will be calculated until after 8 weeks of the birth of your baby. You may choose if you want to use up your PTO before your maternity leave or keep them for when you return.

We will automatically inform your health and social insurance so that you get your maternity leave pay on time.

After the birth we will need the birth certificate as well as additional information if you had a premature birth, a c-section or multiples as that will extend the 16-week period in which you will be paid your full salary without deductions. During this period you will also get your regular holiday and christmas bonus.

At the end of that 16 weeks we kindly ask you to write us to inform us how long you want to take your parental leave. Paid parental leave is possible for both parents until the day of the 2nd birthday of your child. If you want to stay away longer your head of department needs to be in support of it. There are different models: when you only stay away for a year or less, you get a monthly compensation of up to 2000 Euro or 80% of your salary. If you stay longer than a year, you will only get 500 Euro per month. (I simplified this part, but that's the main gist)

Three months before the end of your parental leave we need you to inform us to what extend you want to start working again. (it's common to return with fewer hours)

In case you get pregnant while you are on your leave, please let us know.

For further questions, don't hesitate to contact HR.

All the best,

Your HR team

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