Protection period and protection period: how does it protect employees?

At first glance, the two concepts sound almost the same, but in practice they deal with completely different situations. The original text correctly captured the basic difference between them. However, for May 2026 it is good to have a more precise and up-to-date interpretation.

Protective period: when an employer may not give notice

Protective period is an institution of the Labour Code. It means that, as a rule, an employer may not give notice to an employee during certain periods. Typically, this is when the employee is deemed temporarily unable to work, when the employee is pregnant, when the employee is on maternity leave or when the employee is on parental leave. Protection also applies, for example, to employees called up for military exercises or employees on long-term leave to perform a public function.

Importantly, for a pregnant employee, it is the fact of the pregnancy itself that is decisive, not whether she already knew about it at the time of giving notice. Thus, if she was already pregnant when the notice was served, the notice may be invalid even if the pregnancy is not proved until later. This is a very common and important point in practice.

When is the protection period reflected in the notice period

If the employee is given notice before the start of the protection period and the protection period starts during the notice period, this period is not included in the notice period. The employment relationship will then not end until the remainder of the notice period has expired after the end of the protection period, unless the employee notifies the employer that he or she does not insist on an extension of the employment relationship.

In practice, this means that if the employee falls ill during the notice period and enters the protection period, for example, the end of the employment relationship may be postponed.

The protection period is not absolute

The prohibition on termination during the protection period does not apply absolutely without exception. The Labour Code does allow for some situations where an employer may give notice, for example, when the employer or part of the employer is dissolved. The specific reason for termination must therefore always be assessed in each case.

The protection period: how it works after termination of employment

The cooling-off period belongs to the sickness insurance scheme. It does not protect against dismissal but helps to bridge the period after the end of employment. Its purpose is to prevent a person from immediately losing the possibility of drawing sickness benefits just because the employment relationship ended shortly before.

The sickness benefit protection period

For sickness benefit, the protection period is usually 7 calendar days from the date of cessation of insurance. However, if the insurance lasted for a shorter period, the protection period is only as long as the insurance lasted. Therefore, if an employee falls ill within 7 days of the end of employment, he or she may be entitled to sick pay if other statutory conditions are met.

However, it is necessary to distinguish between the entitlement itself and who pays the benefit and from when. Wage compensation for the first period of temporary incapacity for work is provided by the employer only for the duration of the employment relationship. After its termination, this part of the protection no longer runs and the person can then enter the sickness insurance scheme directly under the rules of the Sickness Insurance Act.

Protection period for maternity allowance

The situation with maternity allowance is different and significantly more favourable for pregnant employees. If employment ended during pregnancy, the protection period is up to 180 calendar days from the date of termination of insurance, but no more than the duration of the last employment. If the employment ended outside the period of pregnancy, only the general seven-day protection period generally applies.

This is very important in practice, for example for women whose fixed-term employment ended during pregnancy. If they also meet the other legal conditions for maternity pay, their entitlement may continue after the end of their employment.

When the protection period does not apply

The protection period does not apply to all insured activities. For example, it does not explicitly apply to a work performance agreement and to certain other jobs, such as small-scale jobs. The older text got it right in that the standstill period does not have universal application. This is now explicitly confirmed by the CSSA for maternity benefits.

That is why it is always necessary to first determine whether a particular employment relationship has established sickness insurance at all and whether the protection period can run from it.

A typical situation in practice

An employee is dismissed for redundancy. It is only a few weeks later that she finds out that she was already pregnant when the notice was served. If it turns out that the pregnancy actually existed at the time of termination, the termination may be invalid because the employer may not terminate the employee during the protection period. The decisive factor is not when the pregnancy was discovered, but whether it was objectively already there at the time the notice was served.

In such cases, it is worth reacting quickly, as the invalidity of the notice must be addressed by legal action in court within the statutory time limit.

Summary

A period of protection and a period of protection are not the same thing. The protective period under the Labour Code mainly protects employees from dismissal during periods of sick leave, pregnancy, maternity or parental leave and in other situations specified by law. The protection period under the Sickness Insurance Act applies after the end of employment and helps to maintain entitlement to sickness or maternity benefits. This is usually 7 days for sickness benefit, but can be up to 180 days for maternity allowance if the conditions are met.