New Maternity Protection Act More comprehensive protection for disabled children and miscarriage

With effect from April 1, 2017, extensive new regulations in the area of temporary employment came into force. The aim of the change in the law is to limit temporary work to its core function and to prevent unlawful contractual constructions, in particular bogus work contracts. In the following, we present the main changes to the AÜG that will apply from 01.04.2017. The cited paragraphs already refer to the version of the AÜG from 01.04.2017.

Significant new regulations on maternity protection come into force on January 1, 2018. The changes extend the group of protected mothers and impose new obligations on employers with regard to occupational health and safety for mothers. However, this does not affect the core areas of the obligation to pay subsidies and continued remuneration.

More comprehensive protection for disabled children and miscarriage

When the law was announced on May 30, 2017, the postnatal protection period for mothers of children with disabilities was extended to 12 weeks. Since May, there has also been protection against dismissal for women who suffer a miscarriage after the twelfth week of pregnancy.

Extension of the group of protected persons

When the new regulations came into force on January 1, 2018, the group of people protected by the Maternity Protection Act was extended. Pupils, students, trainees and interns within the meaning of Section 26 of the Vocational Training Act are now also covered. The same applies to employees in workshops for the disabled, women who are employed as volunteers under the Federal Voluntary Service Act, women who work as development workers and employees of a spiritual cooperative. Women who work from home and self-employed persons similar to employees are also to be subject to maternity protection in future.

Employment bans for operational reasons are to be avoided

The second important innovation is the specification of the employer obligations previously regulated in the Maternity Protection Ordinance with regard to the design of the workplace and working conditions. With the transfer to the Maternity Protection Act, the original aim of the MuSchG to protect the health of expectant mothers has been extended. The employer should now be obliged to exhaust all reasonable possibilities to enable the woman to continue working in the company without any health risks for her or her child. To this end, the employer must carry out a risk assessment to determine whether there are any "irresponsible risks" and to what extent these can be avoided. If hazards are identified with the continuation of the previous activity, the employer must first check whether the working conditions can be redesigned in favor of the pregnant woman's health. If this is not possible, the employer should be obliged to assign her to another job that does not endanger her health. Only as a last resort may a ban on employment be imposed for operational reasons.

More self-determination rights for pregnant women

In addition, pregnant women are to have more say in future. On the one hand, it will no longer be possible to ban a pregnant woman from working against her will, and on the other hand, the possibility of working on Sundays and public holidays will be made easier if the pregnant woman is willing to do so. In addition, it will also be possible to work between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. with official approval.

Date: 16. Nov 2017